4 ms·

I have a hunch that this is how the Russians are using Twitter and Facebook to mess with the American people

rdtsc 9y ago
Good news! You don't need a hunch, since Twitter directly approached RT (which is effectively a government control media apparatus) and pitched them access and discounts to "US voters" ahead of the 2016 election: https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/twitter-offered-rt-15-of-its-total-share-of-us-elections https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/twitter-offered-rt-1... Their response after that reveal was "We do not have any comment on our private conversations with any advertiser". Which, mostly confirms it. If it was a made up story, they would have quickly refuted it as such ("RT made this stuff up like they always do etc"). Not only did they not care about American voters, they were an active part in allowing an external entity to manipulate them. But of course we all believe they changed now and their hearts and minds are one with the American voters. Phew, I can finally sleep better at night.
- John_KZ 9y ago
  Is this really any better than "internal" entities trying to actively brain-wash the electorate right before the elections with personalized propaganda and a fake impression of consensus? The problem is personalized ads. We need to get rid of them, regardless of who does it.
  - rdtsc 9y ago
    > Is this really any better than "internal" entities trying to actively brain-wash the electorate right before the elections with personalized propaganda and a fake impression of consensus? It's the same thing pretty much. It's not like some Wall Street bank is going to have a lot more care and concern for the American voters than some country out there. The story about Russians is only interesting as it was turned into a rather successful PR campaign and a lot of time was spent writing, talking, investigating, and mud slinging based on it. > The problem is personalized ads. We need to get rid of them, regardless of who does it. It's going to be hard. The company which provides the most refined and exact profiles in the ad space will win. So even if there was some company that decided they are not doing this individual targeting, they would lose out and go out of business while company with the most detailed profiles would win. In a way I think that is why Google is afraid of FB. They realized at some point that FB holds much more nuanced and detailed profiles on people.

Good news! You don't need a hunch, since Twitter directly approached RT (which is effectively a government control media apparatus) and pitched them access and discounts to "US voters" ahead of the 2016 election: https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/twitter-offered-rt-15-of-its-total-share-of-us-elections https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/twitter-offered-rt-1... Their response after that reveal was "We do not have any comment on our private conversations with any advertiser". Which, mostly confirms it. If it was a made up story, they would have quickly refuted it as such ("RT made this stuff up like they always do etc"). Not only did they not care about American voters, they were an active part in allowing an external entity to manipulate them. But of course we all believe they changed now and their hearts and minds are one with the American voters. Phew, I can finally sleep better at night.

John_KZ 9y ago
Is this really any better than "internal" entities trying to actively brain-wash the electorate right before the elections with personalized propaganda and a fake impression of consensus? The problem is personalized ads. We need to get rid of them, regardless of who does it.
- rdtsc 9y ago
  > Is this really any better than "internal" entities trying to actively brain-wash the electorate right before the elections with personalized propaganda and a fake impression of consensus? It's the same thing pretty much. It's not like some Wall Street bank is going to have a lot more care and concern for the American voters than some country out there. The story about Russians is only interesting as it was turned into a rather successful PR campaign and a lot of time was spent writing, talking, investigating, and mud slinging based on it. > The problem is personalized ads. We need to get rid of them, regardless of who does it. It's going to be hard. The company which provides the most refined and exact profiles in the ad space will win. So even if there was some company that decided they are not doing this individual targeting, they would lose out and go out of business while company with the most detailed profiles would win. In a way I think that is why Google is afraid of FB. They realized at some point that FB holds much more nuanced and detailed profiles on people.