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Chinese social media accounts are stoking political chaos ahead of 2024 election

AniseAbyss 3y ago
Everything bad that happens in America is a plot by foreign enemies. It exonerates Americans from introspection I suppose.
- officialchicken 3y ago
  The old "ostrich" / passive approach you advocate also prevents the recognition source of disruption. Indecisiveness and inaction to non-kintetic warfare by nation state actors and sponsors of internal "firebrands" isn't something to take lightly, "I suppose".
- mmcdermott 3y ago
  I put this article squarely in the "no way to know what's real" category. It would be naive in 2024 to assume that foreign powers do not attempt to influence outcomes and particularly that they would not attempt to do so through various online outlets. On the other hand, labeling one's political enemies as foreign disinformation seems like a cheap way to delegitimize the other side.
curt15 3y ago
If China blocks western sites, why do western sites allow connections from Chinese IP addresses?
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 3y ago
  Might be nice for an international audience to hear our takes on any given topic? Or to head off any "Americans all hate you" type xenophobia that leaders may want Or to help bring about a global democracy that I want Just for the good of all mankind?
- Georgelemental 3y ago
  Because we are less despotic than China?
h0l0cube 3y ago
> The report described several Chinese government-linked accounts — sometimes referred to as "Spamoflage" — pretending to be avid Republicans and fans of former President Donald Trump's reelection campaign, with some accusing Democratic President Joe Biden of being a "Satanist pedophile." Huh? Seems absurd that China would want another term of the president that implemented a raft of import tariffs and has been expressly anti-China
- pygar 3y ago
  perhaps the goal is to cause general distrust and chaos rather than back a particular candidate. Biden hasn't pulled back from the trade war either. Reading a supporter describe Biden as a "Satanist pedophile" would much more likely (I think and hope) go against Trump as being unhinged.
  - h0l0cube 3y ago
    > Biden hasn't pulled back from the trade war either. Biden has been maintaining Trump's policies, but hasn't really continued his escalation, even reopening diplomatic channels and dialogue with China.
- jerlam 3y ago
  After implementing import tariffs, a country should be using that advantage in order to build up its own manufacturing capabilities. The United States does not seem to be doing that particularly well. Maybe China believes that the US is so dysfunctional and so dependent on Chinese imports that tariffs would not make any difference.
  - h0l0cube 3y ago
    The US and its western allies are actively vying to keep advanced chip fab technology out of China, and restricting GPUs that can be sold to them. At the same time there's heavy domestic investment in new US fabs of a scale not seen for decades.
    - 3y ago
bentt 3y ago
Now's the time when the best minds of HN need to get busy making bots that fill social media with RATIONAL DEBATE, moderate views, and links to valid news sources. Fight fire with fire!
- consumer451 3y ago
  GPT-4 is actually excellent at depolarizing the user, when asking normally polarizing questions. If only there was money to be made on that, it would be a killer app.
  - SXX 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - consumer451 3y ago
      Please share an example. Whenever I ask anything remotely political, it returns maybe even overly-centrist responses. It always replies with examples of how "the other side" might consider the question.
      - SXX 3y ago
        Ask it to glorify Biden or Trump for being a great president. There is lots of cases where it's plain refuse to provide any answers when asking something about Trump and some other republican candidates.
        consumer451 3y ago
        If you don’t share a specific example, I don’t know what to tell you. However: > Ask it to glorify Biden or Trump for being a great president. Exactly my point.. glorifying any political anything is the definition of polarizing. It can be very annoying, but it's anti-polarizing.
        3y ago
krapp 3y ago
Good for them. We need a counterbalance to the political chaos being stoked by white supremacists and the CIA. We live in a post-truth democracy, let the people decide whose lies to believe!
Havoc 3y ago
And unfortunately I see nothing to suggest it’ll fail at that objective. US politics look like an unmitigated shitshow even before the stirring from outsiders

Everything bad that happens in America is a plot by foreign enemies. It exonerates Americans from introspection I suppose.

officialchicken 3y ago
The old "ostrich" / passive approach you advocate also prevents the recognition source of disruption. Indecisiveness and inaction to non-kintetic warfare by nation state actors and sponsors of internal "firebrands" isn't something to take lightly, "I suppose".
mmcdermott 3y ago
I put this article squarely in the "no way to know what's real" category. It would be naive in 2024 to assume that foreign powers do not attempt to influence outcomes and particularly that they would not attempt to do so through various online outlets. On the other hand, labeling one's political enemies as foreign disinformation seems like a cheap way to delegitimize the other side.

curt15 3y ago

If China blocks western sites, why do western sites allow connections from Chinese IP addresses?

01HNNWZ0MV43FF 3y ago
Might be nice for an international audience to hear our takes on any given topic? Or to head off any "Americans all hate you" type xenophobia that leaders may want Or to help bring about a global democracy that I want Just for the good of all mankind?
Georgelemental 3y ago
Because we are less despotic than China?

h0l0cube 3y ago

> The report described several Chinese government-linked accounts — sometimes referred to as "Spamoflage" — pretending to be avid Republicans and fans of former President Donald Trump's reelection campaign, with some accusing Democratic President Joe Biden of being a "Satanist pedophile." Huh? Seems absurd that China would want another term of the president that implemented a raft of import tariffs and has been expressly anti-China

pygar 3y ago
perhaps the goal is to cause general distrust and chaos rather than back a particular candidate. Biden hasn't pulled back from the trade war either. Reading a supporter describe Biden as a "Satanist pedophile" would much more likely (I think and hope) go against Trump as being unhinged.
- h0l0cube 3y ago
  > Biden hasn't pulled back from the trade war either. Biden has been maintaining Trump's policies, but hasn't really continued his escalation, even reopening diplomatic channels and dialogue with China.
jerlam 3y ago
After implementing import tariffs, a country should be using that advantage in order to build up its own manufacturing capabilities. The United States does not seem to be doing that particularly well. Maybe China believes that the US is so dysfunctional and so dependent on Chinese imports that tariffs would not make any difference.
- h0l0cube 3y ago
  The US and its western allies are actively vying to keep advanced chip fab technology out of China, and restricting GPUs that can be sold to them. At the same time there's heavy domestic investment in new US fabs of a scale not seen for decades.
  - 3y ago

bentt 3y ago

Now's the time when the best minds of HN need to get busy making bots that fill social media with RATIONAL DEBATE, moderate views, and links to valid news sources. Fight fire with fire!

consumer451 3y ago
GPT-4 is actually excellent at depolarizing the user, when asking normally polarizing questions. If only there was money to be made on that, it would be a killer app.
- SXX 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - consumer451 3y ago
    Please share an example. Whenever I ask anything remotely political, it returns maybe even overly-centrist responses. It always replies with examples of how "the other side" might consider the question.
    - SXX 3y ago
      Ask it to glorify Biden or Trump for being a great president. There is lots of cases where it's plain refuse to provide any answers when asking something about Trump and some other republican candidates.
      - consumer451 3y ago
        If you don’t share a specific example, I don’t know what to tell you. However: > Ask it to glorify Biden or Trump for being a great president. Exactly my point.. glorifying any political anything is the definition of polarizing. It can be very annoying, but it's anti-polarizing.
        3y ago

krapp 3y ago

Good for them. We need a counterbalance to the political chaos being stoked by white supremacists and the CIA. We live in a post-truth democracy, let the people decide whose lies to believe!

Havoc 3y ago

And unfortunately I see nothing to suggest it’ll fail at that objective. US politics look like an unmitigated shitshow even before the stirring from outsiders