5 ms·

I recall people were quite willing to "block speech or media" when Russian operatives were organizing anti-Trump protests on Facebook in 2016. What has changed

by m0zg 6y ago

I recall people were quite willing to "block speech or media" when Russian operatives were organizing anti-Trump protests on Facebook in 2016. What has changed since?

belltaco 6y ago
Astroturfing isn't protected as free speech. There is no evidence Tiktok was being misused for propaganda.
- daodedickinson 6y ago
  >Radio Free Asia (RFA) published an article explaining the reason that the U.S. closed China’s Consulate in Houston. >The article stated that the U.S. has known that the staff members at the consulate were conducting suspicious activities, but, for a while, it did not take any action. The Second Department of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which is the PLA’s intelligence unit, sent staff members from a large network company, with fake IDs, to China’s Consulate in Houston. Those technicians used a large video platform’s backend data to identify people who might participate in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) and ANTIFA’s protests and then created and sent them customized videos on how to organize riots and how to do promotions. >The purpose was to “weaponize” big data technology. It delivered relevant materials precisely to those people who were most likely to participate in the protests, while other people could not even find those videos. >RFA did not spell out the company names. A Twitter account said the technicians were from Huawei and the video platform they used to identify candidates and push videos to was TikTok. http://chinascope.org/archives/24225?doing_wp_cron=1598095608.1366689205169677734375 http://chinascope.org/archives/24225?doing_wp_cron=159809560...
foota 6y ago
It's different when the president does it.
- daodedickinson 6y ago
  Are you implying that presidential elections have any effects on foreign policy?
excalibur 6y ago
> Russian operatives were organizing anti-Trump protests That seems unlikely. Source?
- m0zg 6y ago
  https://thehill.com/policy/technology/358025-thousands-attended-protest-organized-by-russians-on-facebook https://thehill.com/policy/technology/358025-thousands-atten...
- kube-system 6y ago
  If I recall what I read in the Mueller report correctly, Russia sponsored protests on both sides of the political spectrum, reportedly focusing on topics they thought would increase racial tensions
  - m0zg 6y ago
    > sponsored Why the past tense? Seems to me like someone is still "sponsoring" racial tensions in the US. This has been in the works for quite some time, and it's paying dividends now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQPsKvG6WMI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQPsKvG6WMI. The entirety of the US media apparatus, as well as the entirety of the political establishment is happy to play along.
    - kube-system 6y ago
      > Why the past tense? Because the Mueller report did not contain any information from the future as far as I am aware. :) But yes, I don’t think we have any reason to believe that Russia is acting any differently today.
  - Thorrez 6y ago
    Were they pro and anti Trump protests? I thought they were more about racial tensions than about party tensions.
Thorrez 6y ago
A private website deciding to block certain content from showing up on its own website is different than the government blocking content.
- m0zg 6y ago
  So if, hypothetically, TikTok were to infer political affiliation for its 60M users, and only show the "don't forget to vote" reminder to conservatives, would you be OK with that? Here's the scenario I'm talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSTHgoaVtSw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSTHgoaVtSw. They did admit that they'd prefer Biden, I'm just flipping it to show you what the problem is. We're literally talking about a company which, by virtue of being a Chinese company with significant footprint in the US, has Chinese intelligence agents on staff and can _easily_ swing the elections in ways the alleged "Russian troll farms" couldn't even dream of. Is it wise to allow such a company to operate in the US?
  - kelnos 6y ago
    There's a difference between a random person on the internet "being ok with" something, and it being legal or illegal for a particular government to block that something. > We're literally talking about a company which ... can _easily_ swing the elections in ways the alleged "Russian troll farms" couldn't even dream of. If you have actual evidence that shows that's what they're doing, please feel free to present it. I'm generally wary of anything connected or potentially connected to the Chinese government, but I think we should have at least some baseline evidentiary standards. It's possible that Trump does have evidence of this, and if that's the case, I'd (for once) stand behind what he's doing. But the CIA at least claims they have been unable to find any evidence of wrongdoing.
    - m0zg 6y ago
      > unable to find any evidence of wrongdoing It's also too early for any "wrongdoing" to occur. Late October is when I'd do it, if I were a Chinese intelligence agent looking to sabotage the re-election of the president who endorses de-coupling, in favor of the one whose crackhead son magically got to manage $1.5B in Chinese investment funds in spite of having zero experience. And after it does occur, it will be too late. Since you're going to ask for sources on Chinese money and "crackhead" comment, here they are: https://www.factcheck.org/2019/10/trumps-claims-about-hunter-biden-in-china/ https://www.factcheck.org/2019/10/trumps-claims-about-hunter... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7857001/Hunter-Bidens-Arizona-crack-pipe-crisis-comes-haunt-Arkansas-paternity-case.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7857001/Hunter-Bide...

by m0zg 6y ago

I recall people were quite willing to "block speech or media" when Russian operatives were organizing anti-Trump protests on Facebook in 2016. What has changed since?

belltaco 6y ago

Astroturfing isn't protected as free speech. There is no evidence Tiktok was being misused for propaganda.

daodedickinson 6y ago
>Radio Free Asia (RFA) published an article explaining the reason that the U.S. closed China’s Consulate in Houston. >The article stated that the U.S. has known that the staff members at the consulate were conducting suspicious activities, but, for a while, it did not take any action. The Second Department of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which is the PLA’s intelligence unit, sent staff members from a large network company, with fake IDs, to China’s Consulate in Houston. Those technicians used a large video platform’s backend data to identify people who might participate in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) and ANTIFA’s protests and then created and sent them customized videos on how to organize riots and how to do promotions. >The purpose was to “weaponize” big data technology. It delivered relevant materials precisely to those people who were most likely to participate in the protests, while other people could not even find those videos. >RFA did not spell out the company names. A Twitter account said the technicians were from Huawei and the video platform they used to identify candidates and push videos to was TikTok. http://chinascope.org/archives/24225?doing_wp_cron=1598095608.1366689205169677734375 http://chinascope.org/archives/24225?doing_wp_cron=159809560...

foota 6y ago

It's different when the president does it.

daodedickinson 6y ago
Are you implying that presidential elections have any effects on foreign policy?

excalibur 6y ago

> Russian operatives were organizing anti-Trump protests That seems unlikely. Source?

m0zg 6y ago
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/358025-thousands-attended-protest-organized-by-russians-on-facebook https://thehill.com/policy/technology/358025-thousands-atten...
kube-system 6y ago
If I recall what I read in the Mueller report correctly, Russia sponsored protests on both sides of the political spectrum, reportedly focusing on topics they thought would increase racial tensions
- m0zg 6y ago
  > sponsored Why the past tense? Seems to me like someone is still "sponsoring" racial tensions in the US. This has been in the works for quite some time, and it's paying dividends now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQPsKvG6WMI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQPsKvG6WMI. The entirety of the US media apparatus, as well as the entirety of the political establishment is happy to play along.
  - kube-system 6y ago
    > Why the past tense? Because the Mueller report did not contain any information from the future as far as I am aware. :) But yes, I don’t think we have any reason to believe that Russia is acting any differently today.
- Thorrez 6y ago
  Were they pro and anti Trump protests? I thought they were more about racial tensions than about party tensions.

Thorrez 6y ago

A private website deciding to block certain content from showing up on its own website is different than the government blocking content.

m0zg 6y ago
So if, hypothetically, TikTok were to infer political affiliation for its 60M users, and only show the "don't forget to vote" reminder to conservatives, would you be OK with that? Here's the scenario I'm talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSTHgoaVtSw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSTHgoaVtSw. They did admit that they'd prefer Biden, I'm just flipping it to show you what the problem is. We're literally talking about a company which, by virtue of being a Chinese company with significant footprint in the US, has Chinese intelligence agents on staff and can _easily_ swing the elections in ways the alleged "Russian troll farms" couldn't even dream of. Is it wise to allow such a company to operate in the US?
- kelnos 6y ago
  There's a difference between a random person on the internet "being ok with" something, and it being legal or illegal for a particular government to block that something. > We're literally talking about a company which ... can _easily_ swing the elections in ways the alleged "Russian troll farms" couldn't even dream of. If you have actual evidence that shows that's what they're doing, please feel free to present it. I'm generally wary of anything connected or potentially connected to the Chinese government, but I think we should have at least some baseline evidentiary standards. It's possible that Trump does have evidence of this, and if that's the case, I'd (for once) stand behind what he's doing. But the CIA at least claims they have been unable to find any evidence of wrongdoing.
  - m0zg 6y ago
    > unable to find any evidence of wrongdoing It's also too early for any "wrongdoing" to occur. Late October is when I'd do it, if I were a Chinese intelligence agent looking to sabotage the re-election of the president who endorses de-coupling, in favor of the one whose crackhead son magically got to manage $1.5B in Chinese investment funds in spite of having zero experience. And after it does occur, it will be too late. Since you're going to ask for sources on Chinese money and "crackhead" comment, here they are: https://www.factcheck.org/2019/10/trumps-claims-about-hunter-biden-in-china/ https://www.factcheck.org/2019/10/trumps-claims-about-hunter... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7857001/Hunter-Bidens-Arizona-crack-pipe-crisis-comes-haunt-Arkansas-paternity-case.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7857001/Hunter-Bide...