7 ms·

Remember this? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15790687 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15790687 To some extent it's still going on. Protests are sti

Remember this? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15790687 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15790687 To some extent it's still going on. Protests are still happening (and it's really bad) so lately I've been noticing a bunch of - what I think are - shill accounts. Couple of days before I went through some of the posts in news post about the protests and identified several profiles with no personal pictures, no posts, posting in broken Romanian about: - anti-protests - anti-EU and basically nationalistic bullshit - religion and how that will solve everything - government does nothing wrong and protesters are a bunch of thugs - links to well-known fake news websites - inciting violence while appearing to be pro-protest Groups of accounts such as these are brigading some popular news postings and I don't really find them inside the anti-protester echo rooms. the accounts look and feel similarly to the spam profiles which were prevalent a few years back having supermodel headshots as profile pictures. I reported about 12 such profiles and the response from Facebook was that I should block these accounts as a resolution, as they aren't doing anything wrong per Facebook community guidelines and they are legit accounts. In contrast, 'famous' people who are famously anti-government (and trolls, that's true, like this guy: https://www.facebook.com/macacaur https://www.facebook.com/macacaur) are getting their accounts disabled every couple of weeks and require photo ID proof to re-enable.

trhway 9y ago
> are getting their accounts disabled every couple of weeks and require photo ID proof to re-enable. Sounds like hi tech version if voter ID and serving basically the same purpose.
r00fus 9y ago
Persona Management software is a real thing. This link is from 6 years ago. In the past 5 years, I'm sure it's been refined and weaponized. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-op...
- uep 9y ago
  Russian propaganda offices have been documented to be doing this for years as well. We know they've "weaponized" Facebook per the recent US presidential election. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.html https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/05/europe-vladimir-putin-russia-social-media-trolls https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/05/europe-vladimi... http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/10/russias-online-comment-propaganda-army/280432/ http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/10/rus... http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/05/11/inside-putins-campaign-of-social-media-trolling-and-faked-ukrainian-crimes/#fa953de629db http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/05/11/i...
  - TheRealDunkirk 9y ago
    Who's gaming social media? EVERYONE, from every kid to every mom-and-pop store to every corporation on the planet. Why is it that people who are butt-hurt about the past election only want to talk about "the Russians," when (I'm betting) that a large chunk of users on this site are getting paid to do so as at least part of their job. If <insert Fortune 500> had the resources of a nation-state, do you think they would suddenly develop a case of ethics, and stop scaling up their efforts to play the same game that Russia did/does? Do you think China is ANY LESS involved in the same activity? Or Iran, or NK, or Israel, or the US?! I wish people would wake up and realize that the only winning move is not to play.
    - exogen 9y ago
      No, every kid and mom and pop store is not creating a network of false identities to sway public opinion and incite violence. Your hot take that kids trying to get Likes is the same thing, so we shouldn't care or do anything about it, is I'm sorry to say, insane.
      - katastic 9y ago
        Israel does. http://www.newsweek.com/israels-fake-news-war-how-idf-uses-social-media-its-battle-against-hezbollah-724184 http://www.newsweek.com/israels-fake-news-war-how-idf-uses-s... China does. And we have documented proof of their MAJOR interference in US elections in 1996. They also have recently stolen nuclear secrets and billions worth of weapons research. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_United_States_campaign_finance_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_United_States_campaign_fi... How come nobody is talking about them? Did China magically stop being the bad guys after their last controversy... in 2008? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/20/america-china-hacking-security-obama https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/20/america-china-... If we were really as critical thinking as we think we are, we'd be wondering why Russia is so important, and yet China is completely absent from the national discussion. You can learn more from what isn't covered in the news, than what is. And I'm not saying Russia ISN'T important. I'm saying ALL nation-state actors are important and should be discussed. Anything and everything Russia has done, China is currently doing. So why aren't we trying to stop them just as much? Why aren't we digging up dirt on them, just as hard? Why aren't we probing our senators for connections to China? Could it be they own a significant fraction of US interests? Hmmm...
deleted 9y ago
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narrator 9y ago
How do you know what goes on outside of your direct perception anyway? It used to be conventional media channels and they would print what was arguably propaganda, but there wouldn't be any Russian trolls to poke holes in it. Imagine if the Iraq WMD story broke now. All those Russian trolls spamming Facebook running around saying it was bullshit. That would be total chaos! Why don't people trust the mainstream? The reality is that propaganda works. You think you know what fake news is and what's reality, but we never did and most people follow the time-honored tradition of letting our chosen authority figures tell us who is conspiring with the bad guys. This frees us from the cognitive pain of considering their arguments and evidence because they are puppets of some nebulous evil forces and therefore safe to ignore.
- linkregister 9y ago
  When the Iraq WMD situation unfolded, it was met with plenty of skepticism. “MSM” gave it air time, but it was overcome by the deception of the administration at the time, e.g., Sec. Powell’s statements and the cherry-picked CIA assessment. Your example actually undermines your argument. If anything, we need honest actors around to poke holes in narratives produced by authorities, not ones with the goal of weakening society. This goes for nations that experience interference from the US as well. It makes sense that Iranian society should protect itself from covert US attempts at influence.
  - chiefalchemist 9y ago
    It was "overcome" because the reporting had little backbone to begin with. Most of the rest of the world was demanding proof but the MSM did little to make the American public aware of that. Powell, the IC statements, etc. were just part of the theatre, part of the spin. The bottom line was, the MSM was on board and played a key roll in the WMDs snow job.
    - raverbashing 9y ago
      Yes and not everybody bought what msm sold
deleted 9y ago
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trhway 9y ago

> are getting their accounts disabled every couple of weeks and require photo ID proof to re-enable. Sounds like hi tech version if voter ID and serving basically the same purpose.

r00fus 9y ago

Persona Management software is a real thing. This link is from 6 years ago. In the past 5 years, I'm sure it's been refined and weaponized. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-op...

uep 9y ago
Russian propaganda offices have been documented to be doing this for years as well. We know they've "weaponized" Facebook per the recent US presidential election. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.html https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/05/europe-vladimir-putin-russia-social-media-trolls https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/05/europe-vladimi... http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/10/russias-online-comment-propaganda-army/280432/ http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/10/rus... http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/05/11/inside-putins-campaign-of-social-media-trolling-and-faked-ukrainian-crimes/#fa953de629db http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/05/11/i...
- TheRealDunkirk 9y ago
  Who's gaming social media? EVERYONE, from every kid to every mom-and-pop store to every corporation on the planet. Why is it that people who are butt-hurt about the past election only want to talk about "the Russians," when (I'm betting) that a large chunk of users on this site are getting paid to do so as at least part of their job. If <insert Fortune 500> had the resources of a nation-state, do you think they would suddenly develop a case of ethics, and stop scaling up their efforts to play the same game that Russia did/does? Do you think China is ANY LESS involved in the same activity? Or Iran, or NK, or Israel, or the US?! I wish people would wake up and realize that the only winning move is not to play.
  - exogen 9y ago
    No, every kid and mom and pop store is not creating a network of false identities to sway public opinion and incite violence. Your hot take that kids trying to get Likes is the same thing, so we shouldn't care or do anything about it, is I'm sorry to say, insane.
    - katastic 9y ago
      Israel does. http://www.newsweek.com/israels-fake-news-war-how-idf-uses-social-media-its-battle-against-hezbollah-724184 http://www.newsweek.com/israels-fake-news-war-how-idf-uses-s... China does. And we have documented proof of their MAJOR interference in US elections in 1996. They also have recently stolen nuclear secrets and billions worth of weapons research. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_United_States_campaign_finance_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_United_States_campaign_fi... How come nobody is talking about them? Did China magically stop being the bad guys after their last controversy... in 2008? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/20/america-china-hacking-security-obama https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/20/america-china-... If we were really as critical thinking as we think we are, we'd be wondering why Russia is so important, and yet China is completely absent from the national discussion. You can learn more from what isn't covered in the news, than what is. And I'm not saying Russia ISN'T important. I'm saying ALL nation-state actors are important and should be discussed. Anything and everything Russia has done, China is currently doing. So why aren't we trying to stop them just as much? Why aren't we digging up dirt on them, just as hard? Why aren't we probing our senators for connections to China? Could it be they own a significant fraction of US interests? Hmmm...

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

narrator 9y ago

How do you know what goes on outside of your direct perception anyway? It used to be conventional media channels and they would print what was arguably propaganda, but there wouldn't be any Russian trolls to poke holes in it. Imagine if the Iraq WMD story broke now. All those Russian trolls spamming Facebook running around saying it was bullshit. That would be total chaos! Why don't people trust the mainstream? The reality is that propaganda works. You think you know what fake news is and what's reality, but we never did and most people follow the time-honored tradition of letting our chosen authority figures tell us who is conspiring with the bad guys. This frees us from the cognitive pain of considering their arguments and evidence because they are puppets of some nebulous evil forces and therefore safe to ignore.

linkregister 9y ago
When the Iraq WMD situation unfolded, it was met with plenty of skepticism. “MSM” gave it air time, but it was overcome by the deception of the administration at the time, e.g., Sec. Powell’s statements and the cherry-picked CIA assessment. Your example actually undermines your argument. If anything, we need honest actors around to poke holes in narratives produced by authorities, not ones with the goal of weakening society. This goes for nations that experience interference from the US as well. It makes sense that Iranian society should protect itself from covert US attempts at influence.
- chiefalchemist 9y ago
  It was "overcome" because the reporting had little backbone to begin with. Most of the rest of the world was demanding proof but the MSM did little to make the American public aware of that. Powell, the IC statements, etc. were just part of the theatre, part of the spin. The bottom line was, the MSM was on board and played a key roll in the WMDs snow job.
  - raverbashing 9y ago
    Yes and not everybody bought what msm sold

deleted 9y ago

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