Thread by @DrLeeJones

Does the Intelligence & Security Committee's Russia report suggest the EU referendum was "rigged", as many are now tweeting?

Not at all.

Read it for yourself, pp.12-15. docs.google.com/a/independent.…

1/6

What the report actually says is: we didn't try to assess the efficacy of any Russian influence attempts (p.12), nor do we actually have any additional evidence of them (pp.12-15).

2/6

The report refers to "open source" investigations, but neglects to mention that these academic studies found Russian content "contributed relatively little" and "was not widely shared" - i.e. it was small beer and had no real impact.

comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/upl…

3/6

The report's main beef is that the intelligence services/ govt haven't done their own investigations into Russian influence attempts during the EU referendum, despite prima facie evidence of Russian meddling in *other* electoral events.

4/6

I see no reason why the govt shouldn't investigate - why not double-check what we already know and learn lessons to combat future influence attempts? To refuse to do so merely fuels suspicion.

5/6

But crucially, no amount of investigation will ever satisfy those saying the Brexit vote was "rigged". Most of those claiming otherwise will simply never accept the legitimacy of a vote that didn't go their way. Their problem is with democracy, not Russia.

6/6