I do NOT understand what the Russian did.
Russia used the social media to propagate false/phony information on a massive scale. They used the tools that are normally assigned for "targeted advertising" to find an audience that would be receptive to the material they were pushing. They also looked at the profiles of their targeted audience to maximize the likelihood of the postings to "go viral", aka be reposted to other "like minded" people. They created fake/bot accounts as their launch platforms and directed their material at the target audience. The primary targets were in effect recruited as "assets" without even realizing it. They were the ones spreading the dubious material.
The main difference between this and "old school" propaganda schemes is that they could easily find receptive targets using social medias own tools and the ease and speed at which the disinformation can be spread. Flyers/publications can be ignored, radios or TV's turned off. Direct contact with a stranger often leaves clues about the deception and there is some natural level of suspicion. The internet provides a level of anonymity. The mechanism of the real attack (aka the flood of repostings by real people) is coming from sources that a person in more likely to trust, people they actually know. Unfortunately there is a tendency for people to believe almost anything they see/hear/read on the internet.
There are no editors, no fact checkers, and almost no liability. The real danger is that there is no critical assessment of the information going on. People find "channels" that back their point of view and tune out anything that doesn't. This behavior can result in hilarious interchanges at gatherings when a person gets caught in their own web of illogic and storms off after being confronted with it.
while the books rest quietly on the shelves.