That article in the Nation does not prove your point- it literally dances around the social media aspect while actually accepting that it occurred. Citing spending levels isn’t the same as citing actual influence. The churn of misinformation shared on social media in the USA is a freaking tidal wave. I see it every day from arguments about masks not effective in the pandemic to election issues. It doesn’t take huge sums of money to kick off a meme which then gets passed on and circulated in the social media atmosphere. The Russians did this and it is DOCUMENTED whether you accept it or not. At question is: how effective was it? I would say that whether it actually influenced votes or not is up for debate. But it is arguably effective in maintaining the ongoing social media divide we have here in this country.