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This genre of research is disturbing to me. Researchers found accounts spreading ideas they didn’t like, tracked down their real world identities, and then reco

This genre of research is disturbing to me. Researchers found accounts spreading ideas they didn’t like, tracked down their real world identities, and then recommended ways of silencing them. Please consider the implications of this activity, especially (inevitably) when it’s used to target communities we’re a part of.

jfengel 2y ago
That seems to deny even the existence of truth and falsehood. There's only opinion, "ideas they didn't like", and no chance that those ideas might actually be wrong. There's also kind of an odd contradiction. This is an idea you don't like, and suggesting it should be stopped.
- thriftwy 2y ago
  The obvious problem is that we do not know what's true and what's false until way later. We can tell "organic" from "forced", perhaps, but then the results will not be pretty for any political camp.
whoitwas 2y ago
The people dox themselves using social media. The study uses an established method to classify fake news. It's scientific, not stuff they don't like.
Boxxed 2y ago
This is not about stopping "ideas I don't like," it's about stopping "This shit is made up, and it's intended to be damaging." I do not understand why so many people cannot or refuse to see the difference.
- Nursie 2y ago
  It’s bizarre isn’t it. We live in a world where people are slinging lies about the place, deliberately, for monetary or political gain. And yet a lot of contributors here see no difference between that and factual information or honest reportage. It’s distressing that so many people seem to swim in this mire of relativity, and see calls for truthfulness and adherence to reality as some sort of sin, an admission of bias and a desire to suppress the other side.
  - dent9876543 2y ago
    It's not surprising. Many of the truths that have been slung around in recent times have turned out to be noble lies or outright falsehoods, manipulating opinion for monetary or political gain. The problem is not so much in the research itself, but that it is presented and reported unaware or indifferent to those events.

jfengel 2y ago

That seems to deny even the existence of truth and falsehood. There's only opinion, "ideas they didn't like", and no chance that those ideas might actually be wrong. There's also kind of an odd contradiction. This is an idea you don't like, and suggesting it should be stopped.

thriftwy 2y ago
The obvious problem is that we do not know what's true and what's false until way later. We can tell "organic" from "forced", perhaps, but then the results will not be pretty for any political camp.

whoitwas 2y ago

The people dox themselves using social media. The study uses an established method to classify fake news. It's scientific, not stuff they don't like.

Boxxed 2y ago

This is not about stopping "ideas I don't like," it's about stopping "This shit is made up, and it's intended to be damaging." I do not understand why so many people cannot or refuse to see the difference.

Nursie 2y ago
It’s bizarre isn’t it. We live in a world where people are slinging lies about the place, deliberately, for monetary or political gain. And yet a lot of contributors here see no difference between that and factual information or honest reportage. It’s distressing that so many people seem to swim in this mire of relativity, and see calls for truthfulness and adherence to reality as some sort of sin, an admission of bias and a desire to suppress the other side.
- dent9876543 2y ago
  It's not surprising. Many of the truths that have been slung around in recent times have turned out to be noble lies or outright falsehoods, manipulating opinion for monetary or political gain. The problem is not so much in the research itself, but that it is presented and reported unaware or indifferent to those events.