the eff was active in the united states presidential election 2016 because of online phishing related to the controversy over fabrication of election results. j. alex halderman, a computer security professor at the university of michigan, wrote an article that was published in "medium" in 2016 stating he thought it was advisable to have a recount on some of the election results from states like wisconsin, michigan, and pennsylvania. in retaliation for halderman standing up for the uncertain election results, a hacker sent anti-semitic and racist emails to students at university of michigan signed from halderman. the eff publicizes these controversies and promotes the reduction of online phishing.