Russian election meddling: Should tech giants have known?

On the other hand, their systems weren't set up to deal with this type of "social hacking." The focus was on software hacking, spam and nefarious content such as terrorist propaganda.

NEW YORK: There were telltale signs of Russians using social media to meddle in last year's U.S. elections long before tech companies wised up to it.

Could Facebook and other tech giants have caught the abuse earlier?

After all, they have smart people and lots of data that should have flagged this.

On the other hand, their systems weren't set up to deal with this type of "social hacking." The focus was on software hacking, spam and nefarious content such as terrorist propaganda.

It now seems easy to see the signs of Russia's interference on social media. But consider this: Try thinking of new ways foreign entities might try to meddle in the 2020 election. Will it be using virtual reality? Robots? Snapchat?

Stumped? Check in three years. Hindsight is 20/20.