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This is absurd. 26 accounts? 70 accounts? This is script kiddie level. You can buy accounts for pennies(literally) linked to @outlook.com on blackhat marketing

This is absurd. 26 accounts? 70 accounts? This is script kiddie level. You can buy accounts for pennies(literally) linked to @outlook.com on blackhat marketing websites. You can also buy the tools to administer all of them. £500 (estimate) would get you from black hat marketeers: - 200 twitter accounts (new) - you can also get aged ones but more expensive - bot - around 25-100 proxies to rotate when posting (depending on quality 25 would suffice) - someone to do the work for you (a part time PA) - a win VPS to run it all

ceejayoz 5y ago
This always cracks me up about Facebook announcements. https://about.fb.com/news/2020/07/removing-political-coordinated-inauthentic-behavior/ https://about.fb.com/news/2020/07/removing-political-coordin... > We removed 38 Facebook accounts, 76 Pages, and 55 Instagram accounts for violating our policy against foreign interference which is coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign or government entity. Wow, great work, now do the other billion or so.
axiosgunnar 5y ago
It is also script kiddie level to steal candy from a store. But if a nation state engages in systematic candy theft, that should raise eyebrows.
- White_Wolf 5y ago
  In RL you'd be able to catch and identify the thief. Digital... a bit different I'm afraid. Online - you'll struggle to prove with 100% certainty who did it. Anything else apart from proof is propaganda/assumptions. Not facts. What makes you think those accounts were really from China and not from Australia, Taiwan or even Iran? Anyone can do it with a tiny botnet/a few ssh's into consumer routers or by buying less popular browser addons. My point was this is not news worthy by any measure. It's just bashing for the sake of bashing. If you want to make it news worthy, tell me you indentified 1k or 2 of aged twitter accounts that spwe propaganda. Not 1 week accounts.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  If paid/automated social media activity is "candy theft," the only nation states that aren't doing it are the ones who can't afford to.
  - Ekaros 5y ago
    I wonder if there is even nation state that can't afford it. Knowing North Korean capabilities they too probably can. And I can't think anyone who would me more limited.
    - dangerface 5y ago
      True if you are too poor to build an ai and tools to spam your propaganda like the west does you could always just higher a few locals at $1 a week for better results.
throwinawaysoon 5y ago
ya. At 26-70 accounts you don't even need a VPS, there are free VPNs, free temporary emails, and temporary phone numbers you can buy. this could be any angry chinese person or a teenager. Being anti-china gets people riled up. I'm guessing it's the same in China when they want to divert the attention. 50 western accounts on <chinese-social-media-site> said 'China Bad' at the same time.
kleene_op 5y ago
Maybe the meager amount of fake accounts uncovered here is testimony to how good the CCP is at compartmentalizing it's propaganda cells.

ceejayoz 5y ago

This always cracks me up about Facebook announcements. https://about.fb.com/news/2020/07/removing-political-coordinated-inauthentic-behavior/ https://about.fb.com/news/2020/07/removing-political-coordin... > We removed 38 Facebook accounts, 76 Pages, and 55 Instagram accounts for violating our policy against foreign interference which is coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign or government entity. Wow, great work, now do the other billion or so.

axiosgunnar 5y ago

It is also script kiddie level to steal candy from a store. But if a nation state engages in systematic candy theft, that should raise eyebrows.

White_Wolf 5y ago
In RL you'd be able to catch and identify the thief. Digital... a bit different I'm afraid. Online - you'll struggle to prove with 100% certainty who did it. Anything else apart from proof is propaganda/assumptions. Not facts. What makes you think those accounts were really from China and not from Australia, Taiwan or even Iran? Anyone can do it with a tiny botnet/a few ssh's into consumer routers or by buying less popular browser addons. My point was this is not news worthy by any measure. It's just bashing for the sake of bashing. If you want to make it news worthy, tell me you indentified 1k or 2 of aged twitter accounts that spwe propaganda. Not 1 week accounts.
pessimizer 5y ago
If paid/automated social media activity is "candy theft," the only nation states that aren't doing it are the ones who can't afford to.
- Ekaros 5y ago
  I wonder if there is even nation state that can't afford it. Knowing North Korean capabilities they too probably can. And I can't think anyone who would me more limited.
  - dangerface 5y ago
    True if you are too poor to build an ai and tools to spam your propaganda like the west does you could always just higher a few locals at $1 a week for better results.

throwinawaysoon 5y ago

ya. At 26-70 accounts you don't even need a VPS, there are free VPNs, free temporary emails, and temporary phone numbers you can buy. this could be any angry chinese person or a teenager. Being anti-china gets people riled up. I'm guessing it's the same in China when they want to divert the attention. 50 western accounts on <chinese-social-media-site> said 'China Bad' at the same time.

kleene_op 5y ago

Maybe the meager amount of fake accounts uncovered here is testimony to how good the CCP is at compartmentalizing it's propaganda cells.