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Why don't we study our own social media habits with as much scrutiny? I mean, if our version of the Chinese state is free market capitalism, how much of our own

Why don't we study our own social media habits with as much scrutiny? I mean, if our version of the Chinese state is free market capitalism, how much of our own social media ecosystem is clogged with "fake" posts, otherwise known as content marketing? I bet we produce way more than 488M of that kind of crap each year.

okc 10y ago
I think the key difference is the government not cooperations are behind it. I think if the American government were mass employing graduates to make fake posts, then it would be scrutinised massively. (graduates, because social control is an academic discipline) Comparatively, between the two nations, I don't think the role of the Chinese state in controlling the thoughts of its citizens can be easily compared with American free market capitalism. In reality, China also has similar model of capitalism which operates in a similar way. The government creating fake posts, the Chinese fire wall.. Tiananmen Square.. people with anti-goverment views at local level - regularly going missing.. official and unofficial snithches on nearly every street.. I could go on. The unique role of the Chinese government (unlike America) make their social media habits interesting. Now of course American social media habits are interesting, but not for the same reasons, and I would argue: American social media habits aren't as important in areas like human rights. To put it in another context: if I was making this post from china or was Chinese - I would be looking over my shoulder and perhaps writing more ambiguously.
- lumberjack 10y ago
  http://www.computerworld.com/article/2470594/endpoint-security/army-of-fake-social-media-friends-to-promote-propaganda.html http://www.computerworld.com/article/2470594/endpoint-securi... https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-op... http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/feb/23/need-to-protect-internet-from-astroturfing http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/fe... This is old news. It was first revealed in 2004.
  - crusso 10y ago
    The existence of the US government's looking into such a program or even having a small version of it isn't surprising. What would be interesting in a bad way would be if the US government was using it at anywhere near the scale of the Chinese government.
    - okc 10y ago
      Agreed, with both of you. I like this hackernews forum, as false arguments tend to be articulately called out and discussed. The irony of the thread is that the fundamental debate is about if such a forum should be allowed to exist without government mediation and control.

okc 10y ago

I think the key difference is the government not cooperations are behind it. I think if the American government were mass employing graduates to make fake posts, then it would be scrutinised massively. (graduates, because social control is an academic discipline) Comparatively, between the two nations, I don't think the role of the Chinese state in controlling the thoughts of its citizens can be easily compared with American free market capitalism. In reality, China also has similar model of capitalism which operates in a similar way. The government creating fake posts, the Chinese fire wall.. Tiananmen Square.. people with anti-goverment views at local level - regularly going missing.. official and unofficial snithches on nearly every street.. I could go on. The unique role of the Chinese government (unlike America) make their social media habits interesting. Now of course American social media habits are interesting, but not for the same reasons, and I would argue: American social media habits aren't as important in areas like human rights. To put it in another context: if I was making this post from china or was Chinese - I would be looking over my shoulder and perhaps writing more ambiguously.

lumberjack 10y ago
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2470594/endpoint-security/army-of-fake-social-media-friends-to-promote-propaganda.html http://www.computerworld.com/article/2470594/endpoint-securi... https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-op... http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/feb/23/need-to-protect-internet-from-astroturfing http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/fe... This is old news. It was first revealed in 2004.
- crusso 10y ago
  The existence of the US government's looking into such a program or even having a small version of it isn't surprising. What would be interesting in a bad way would be if the US government was using it at anywhere near the scale of the Chinese government.
  - okc 10y ago
    Agreed, with both of you. I like this hackernews forum, as false arguments tend to be articulately called out and discussed. The irony of the thread is that the fundamental debate is about if such a forum should be allowed to exist without government mediation and control.