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Propaganda on Tumblr
- bluepeter 9y agoITT Russians w/ a plan.
- earenndil 9y ago> Yeah, I got one of Tumblr’s you-may-have-unwittingly-interacted-with-propaganda-blogs emails too I don't have a tumblr account -- what emails is he talking about?
- qubex 9y agoYesterday Tumblur emailed this: As part of our commitment to transparency, we want you to know that we uncovered and terminated 84 accounts linked to Internet Research Agency or IRA (a group closely tied to the the Russian government) posing as members of the Tumblr community. The IRA engages in electronic disinformation and propaganda campaigns around the world using phony social media accounts. When we uncovered these accounts, we notified law enforcement, terminated the accounts, and deleted their original posts. While investigating their activity on Tumblr, we discovered that you either followed one of these accounts linked to the IRA, or liked or reblogged one of their posts: 1-800-gloup bellaxiao previously known as: blogmadworldlove bellygangstaboo cartnsncreal previously known as: feelmydragonballs destinyrush previously known as: delightfullyghostlysong fedupwithlying previously known as: badgyalforyou gentlexnoise previously known as: slakerglitch, superblydopepatrol gogomrbrown previously known as: go-mrbrown, infectedv0ice, todd-la-death honestlyyoungpersona hustleinatrap previously known as: thenaturecanpost, tumblercube jenningsmiracle lagonegirl massmedear previously known as: massblog021 mooseblogtimes morningwoodz previously known as: 5cubes, bangbangempire, empireofweird, gifemprireohh, innerpicsempire, picsempire nevaehtyler previously known as: laserenita postingwhileblack previously known as: ghettablasta, heygeraldmartinjohanssen, honestinjun, nativewolveshere rebellloudwiththecrowd previously known as: massivelystrangetyrant sassydreamlandcloud shoutoutworldwide previously known as: blackprideworldwide, krispymentalitycowboy skullofjustice previously known as: naughtykermit, ryanbutlersstuff, usnationaldebt sumchckn previously known as: blondeinpolitics, blvckcommunity, classylgbthomie, hwuudoin, politixblondie swagintherain previously known as: blacklivesmatterusa, carzwithgirlz the-real-eye-to-see thetrippytrip previously known as: matrixpath, themostpost thingstolovefor previously known as: the-inner-mirror this-truly-brutal-world previously known as: awesomewhitepearl, free-mind-and-soul You aren’t in trouble, and don’t need to take any action if you don’t want to. We deleted the accounts but decided to leave up any reblog chains so that you can curate your own Tumblr to reflect your own personal views and perspectives. Democracy requires transparency and an informed electorate and we take our disclosure responsibility very seriously. We’ll be aggressively watching for disinformation campaigns in the future, take the appropriate action, and make sure you know about it. — Tumblr
- katzgrau 9y agoI find this interesting. I'm curious though, who is the state sponsor?
- apsec112 9y agoRussia. IRA = Internet Research Agency = Russian trolls.
- FreeFull 9y agoI was confused because the first thing that came to mind was the Irish Republican Army, but this makes a lot more sense.
- StavrosK 9y agoI was similarly confused when I got an email from Tumblr about interacting with Irish terrorist propaganda. I was puzzled because I wasn't aware that the IRA was still a thing, and I didn't know there's another initialism like that until this very moment.
- jmspring 9y agoLong gone are the days where the IRA let people know a target and property damage was done (towards the end of "the troubles"). But much history to explore on both sides of that long time conflict.
- tty7 9y agoThink before you speak, call before you dig.
- coldtea 9y agoWhat's troubling to me (as a non-American and non-Russian) is the mere "As part of our commitment to transparency we will be maintaining this list of usernames that we have determined were engaged in state-sponsored disinformation and propaganda campaigns.". Where's the relevant information about that? I see a "blacklist" of sorts, that should be taken at face value, because some "state agent" (or, worse, social media site) says so.
- bilbo0s 9y agoFor what it's worth, the information you're looking for must be out there, because the author's central premise is that he gained access to the list and remembered one of the accounts. (Of course, that assumes both that the author of the article is not a professional message manipulator, AND that the author is telling the truth. Reasonable people can be forgiven for being skeptical about every post that is even remotely political these days.) What's disappointing is how jaded I've become due to all the new information out there about what professional manipulation has done to the internet's forums and web sites. Even HN is not immune to it. Unfortunately, I have an almost automatic skepticism towards every semi political post I read now. I'm not even sure this problem can be solved while the internet persists in its current form. It's sad.
- qubex 9y agoThe list you mention was included in a mass-mail that Tumblr sent out yesterday to users that had interacted with any of those accounts (I know because like the author of the particle post we are commenting on, I too received the email; unlike the original poster, I cannot remember which of these ’blacklisted’ accounts I had interacted with).
- eganist 9y agoSince there is already unsourced commentary here, in the spirit of fact-checking, I'll add a solid source for those of you wondering who the state actor is: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/24/tumblr-says-russia-used-it-for-fake-news-during-2016-election https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/24/tumblr-sa... More directly, https://tumblr.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002280214 https://tumblr.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002280214 --- Vet before you fret.
- pjdemers 9y ago... I was wondering which state. Thanks.
- fvdessen 9y agoThere is also vast amount of astroturfing by the USA & NATO Spy agencies, although I suspect it's a bit more risky for tumblr to report on those.
- B1FF_PSUVM 9y agoYou mean the regular movie and TV programming?
- eganist 9y ago> There is also vast amount of astroturfing by the USA & NATO Spy agencies Source? Not saying you're wrong, just suggesting it flies in the face of this thread to make any assertion without a properly sourced citation.
- gandhium 9y agoI think his source is plain whataboutism.
- StellarTabi 9y ago> People are called out on their "whataboutery" when they point out hypocrisy. For example, if a father tells his child not to smoke, and the child says "what about you? You smoke several packs a day!" The argument is that one shouldn't smoke, not that the one making the argument is exempt from that rule. So a "what about you" response does not address the argument, thus, is fallacious. However, it is a valid question that does warrant a response. Perhaps the father would respond "I am an idiot with no self-control." But if the father simply responded "that's 'whataboutery,'" it would be akin to the fallacy fallacy, where the implication is that because the response is a fallacy, then it must be incorrect, unreasonable, or undeserving of a response. This is a deflection and an argumentative cop out. Feel free to point out the whataboutery, but respond to the accusation and don't stop dialog because you have your opponent on a technicality. https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/qa/Bo/LogicalFallacies/T6GFZjRy/Whataboutism https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/qa/Bo/LogicalFalla...
- xupybd 9y agoSo Russsia is partially behind the current left vs right / Black vs white tension going on in the USA?
- jonny_eh 9y agoThey're certainly inflaming it.
- nitwit005 9y agoTrying to inflame it. I haven't seen any evidence it was effective. It's not as if there was a shortage of outrage on Facebook or Tumblr.
- hnuser1234 9y agoAre you shitting me? It was a critical hit.
- yellowapple 9y agoIt was already a gasoline-soaked pile of wood scraps and leaves, piled up higher and higher for decades (if not centuries). The social network meddling is the lit cigarette flicked into it.
- maxst 9y agoIt was always burning Since the world's been turning
- nitwit005 9y agoSurely you can point me to some sort of evidence of its effectiveness then?
- hnuser1234 9y agoThe exact outrage you mentioned noticing. The outrage didn't stop it, the outrage IS it. Russia doesn't care if we know they're meddling, it works just fine at generating instability anyways. It might even work better that way. Look at us, here we are still talking Russia. It's going to continue to work for as long as people let it so easily outrage them.
- Eridrus 9y agoI think it's a little shortaided to focus on the issue of fake news, or misinformation in general. WikiLeaks, the DNC emails, etc show that Truth can be just as powerful a weapon. The only real defense against this is to come together as a nation, rather than turning everything into a partisan squabble, but this seems unlikely in the near future. Everyone wants to blame tech or Russia for the situation, but this problem is much larger.
- RangerScience 9y ago> The only real defense against this is to come together as a nation Isn't the other defense effective education, so people know how to spot suspect things and do their own research? (I imagine this has high correlation with "coming together as a nation")
- Eridrus 9y ago> Isn't the other defense effective education, so people know how to spot suspect things and do their own research? I think its distinctly different, since it is not about about discerning fact from fiction. There is a lot of truth and opinion that is just as divisive as lies. The lies are just the cherry on the cake.
- kelukelugames 9y agoDefine "hidden." I hate to say this but 90% of what I know about NASA comes from that movie and the one with Tom Hanks.
- zeth___ 9y ago1). Attack conservatives as 'Russian agents' and remove their online platforms. 2). Attack liberals as 'Russian agents' and remove their online platforms. 3). Only let corporate friendly publications have online platforms since you can't trust anyone else. You'd think people would have realized this would happen since it's what always happens when you start silencing opinions you don't agree with.
- mistermann 9y agoSometimes I wonder if Donald Trump is a plant, because people are practically begging the government for disarmament and censorship.
- B1FF_PSUVM 9y agoMy pet theory is that his role is to keep the disaffected inside the tent long enough to not matter.
- ghostbrainalpha 9y agoHonestly... I will Paypal you $50 to delete this comment.
- fein 9y agoI've seen a lot of #1, but not a whole lot of #2, and #3 seems to be pushing #2's agenda. Just curious on what "liberals" have had their online platforms removed. From my general experience with the internet since my youth, it seems that online discussion in unmoderated communities seems to be fairly "conservative" in that they are brutally honest and unwilling to accommodate others special interests.
- laretluval 9y agoTFA is an example of #2. But I agree that on the whole #1 seems a lot more common.
- doctorless 9y agoI find it intriguing that people are still surprised that there are attempts to polarize and amplify both sides from foreign actors. Hell, it happens just as intentionally from within our borders. I literally gave a talk on automating it before the 2016 election. I even used the data to project the winner of the election. People laughed. Then November rolled around.
- Khaine 9y agoDo you have a link to your talk? It sounds interesting
- doctorless 9y agohttps://youtu.be/iIIemMC4hrk https://youtu.be/iIIemMC4hrk Admittedly, I was aiming for humor at some points, but that was to help offset the gravity of the experiment.
- dredmorbius 9y agoIs there a version of that with remotely audible audio?
- xienze 9y ago> Hell, it happens just as intentionally from within our borders. I would love to do a little experiment where some of the anti-white, anti-gun, anti-religious, etc. vitriol spewed by American media, academics, and celebrities is repackaged via tweets from several Twitter accounts appearing to originate from Russia just to see everyone denounce these “horrible attempts to sow division.” Honestly I’m pretty sure these Russian troll attempts everyone is so up in arms about are already doing this — but it would be nice to have the big reveal at the end.
- kelukelugames 9y agoBoondock clip where Ann Coulter is BFF with Al Sharpton/Jesse Jackson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1seThIG34R8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1seThIG34R8
- blhack 9y agoMaybe the Russian propaganda narrative is Russian propaganda. If you wanted to destabilize the west, just gently implying hat the sitting US president is secretly maybe a Russia spy would be a pretty good way of doing it.
- jetpks 9y agoThey really did a good job with the mountain of evidence, too.
- shiado 9y agoIt would be interesting to see a social media platform emerge where instead of a real name policy there was a metadata policy where each post contains the IP/User-Agent/etc... for utmost transparency and validation by parties viewing the site. It would be a DDOS/security nightmare but for a relevant example check out congress-edits https://twitter.com/congressedits https://twitter.com/congressedits
- Const-me 9y agoIt worked for congressmen because they’re more or less honest, they don’t know much about computers, and because the’re using work PCs and networks managed by people who know a lot about computers. Propagandists like IRA will use Tor/VPN/clouds/botnets to spoof IPs, virtualization/modified web browsers to spoof user agents, etc…
- nextlevelwizard 9y agoProblem with this kind of identity system is that bad actors will keep anonymous and then conduct attacks on the people who dare to speak their minds. This kind of platform would remote bots/trolls to some extent, but it would also put everyone who disagrees with the status quo at risk. Which in turn would stifle free speech and people would either not dare to speak against issues or keep that speech elsewhere.
- jerkstate 9y agoI find it ironic that the moral of the story is "Fact-check everything" but pretty much everyone in the USA has picked one side or the other of a massive conspiracy theory solely supported by unnamed sources, circumstantial evidence, and innuendo.
- DennisAleynikov 9y agoc'est la vie
- mesozoic 9y agoIn the span of about 3 sentences this article goes from giving a perfect example the dangers of social justice to then saying how important it is. " The issue was perfectly tailored to resonate with Tumblr’s culture of social justice, and it worked. The vast majority of reblogs of the original post do not include any correction or further information. Again, don’t get me wrong: anger is important. It’s a necessary part of social justice. "
- antoineMoPa 9y agoIt does not highlight the dangers of social justice. It highlights the danger of reblogging without fact-checking. You seem to equate "reblogging/sharing without fact checking" with "social-justice".
- maym86 9y agoWhataboutism? There are bad posts on both sides?
- pknopf 9y agoDid he claim otherwise? He clearly said that they attempt to inflame both sides to grow the conflict.
- JKCalhoun 9y ago> if you see a post about an issue that makes you angry... Dial down your use of the internet.
- lovich 9y agoMaybe the internet was a bad idea. At this point it seems an almost impossible effort to vet the information from anyone more than 1 connection from you, while putting fake information up is almost effortless. I don't know if anyone can trust anyone outside of their close family/friends anymore, and even that's not garunteed
- nextlevelwizard 9y agoHow is this any different from TV, radio, newspapers or books? You have to trust the author to speak truth and the median to not censor. Unless you are the ones writing a news story you have no idea who made it or what influenced it.
- vikascoder 9y agoIt's a little different as Internet makes it far easier to target a user compared to classic means of propaganda especially excaberating the issue of identifying real news vs "fake" news. With TV and Newspaper there are less "anonymous" outlets for content and a system of oversight could be applied in theory. A WhatsApp forward or an FB post spreads like a virus with no clear source. It's trivial to spread lies and for a user to consume it.
- funkythingss 9y agoI can't take anything seriously from a person, who says > "Now, don’t get me wrong here: I am one hundred percent aware that history regularly erases the contributions of women, and especially women of colour"
- iron0013 9y agoWhy not?