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It is well known that Israel uses botnets and user-controlled fake accounts to steer public opinion in social media. Reddit, youtube, instagram and lots of med

It is well known that Israel uses botnets and user-controlled fake accounts to steer public opinion in social media. Reddit, youtube, instagram and lots of media outlets are flooded with pro-israeli propaganda or massive downvoting to any critizism against Israel. Also here in hacker news...

wslh 2y ago
> It is well known that Israel... It is well known that any cybersecurity aware country... here I point to some papers/articles [1][2][3] just as a reference of the modus operandi, not to isolate a particular country. [1] https://arxiv.org/pdf/1507.07109 https://arxiv.org/pdf/1507.07109 [2] https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/gf7jb/download https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/gf7jb/download [3] https://www.foi.se/download/18.6b6fc4521690ffa2022169/1550764502501/Political-bots-Swedish_election_FOI-S--5937--SE.pdf https://www.foi.se/download/18.6b6fc4521690ffa2022169/155076...
Hikikomori 2y ago
Hey now, the ones on hackernews probably do it for free on their own time.
- dzhiurgis 2y ago
  On company time
WesolyKubeczek 2y ago
Here on HN I tend to see the opposite: lots of staunch anti-israelism, sometimes bordering on plain old antisemitism, along with these statements like yours. I have showdead and showflagged enabled, yet I don’t see the flood of propaganda you keep talking about.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- covercash 2y ago
  I imagine @dang is pretty on top of clapping antisemitic comments on this platform, he’s not one to mess around. I worry that softening the definition of antisemitism by saying things border on it is ultimately weakening the severity of the accusation long term. Like bigot and pedo, antisemite will soon be relegated to just another empty accusation before long.
  - WesolyKubeczek 2y ago
    Should I call people “cryptoantisemites” instead, when they dance on that thin line between “trying to be unbiased” and “calling to wipe Israel and its inhabitants from the map”, never actually uttering the latter aloud?
    - tguvot 2y ago
      i think i even know who you are talking about specifically
    - aguaviva 2y ago
      You can call them whatever you want, as long as you can point to instances of what real users actually said. Instead of referring to abstract/hypothetical users and what you think they might be saying in some alternate universe.
    - covercash 2y ago
      I actually think that would be an apt term for every Twitter account promoting an alt coin…
  - tguvot 2y ago
    no, he isn't. there is a bunch of accounts that post comments like this. get at most slap on the wrist. but the one that get banned are pro-israeli accounts.
Toaster-King 2y ago
Do you have any evidence that Israeli-controlled accounts were operating on Twitch (a video-game livestreaming company), and that this required an entire country-level IP block after october 7th?

wslh 2y ago

> It is well known that Israel... It is well known that any cybersecurity aware country... here I point to some papers/articles [1][2][3] just as a reference of the modus operandi, not to isolate a particular country. [1] https://arxiv.org/pdf/1507.07109 https://arxiv.org/pdf/1507.07109 [2] https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/gf7jb/download https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/gf7jb/download [3] https://www.foi.se/download/18.6b6fc4521690ffa2022169/1550764502501/Political-bots-Swedish_election_FOI-S--5937--SE.pdf https://www.foi.se/download/18.6b6fc4521690ffa2022169/155076...

Hikikomori 2y ago

Hey now, the ones on hackernews probably do it for free on their own time.

dzhiurgis 2y ago
On company time

WesolyKubeczek 2y ago

Here on HN I tend to see the opposite: lots of staunch anti-israelism, sometimes bordering on plain old antisemitism, along with these statements like yours. I have showdead and showflagged enabled, yet I don’t see the flood of propaganda you keep talking about.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
covercash 2y ago
I imagine @dang is pretty on top of clapping antisemitic comments on this platform, he’s not one to mess around. I worry that softening the definition of antisemitism by saying things border on it is ultimately weakening the severity of the accusation long term. Like bigot and pedo, antisemite will soon be relegated to just another empty accusation before long.
- WesolyKubeczek 2y ago
  Should I call people “cryptoantisemites” instead, when they dance on that thin line between “trying to be unbiased” and “calling to wipe Israel and its inhabitants from the map”, never actually uttering the latter aloud?
  - tguvot 2y ago
    i think i even know who you are talking about specifically
  - aguaviva 2y ago
    You can call them whatever you want, as long as you can point to instances of what real users actually said. Instead of referring to abstract/hypothetical users and what you think they might be saying in some alternate universe.
  - covercash 2y ago
    I actually think that would be an apt term for every Twitter account promoting an alt coin…
- tguvot 2y ago
  no, he isn't. there is a bunch of accounts that post comments like this. get at most slap on the wrist. but the one that get banned are pro-israeli accounts.

Toaster-King 2y ago

Do you have any evidence that Israeli-controlled accounts were operating on Twitch (a video-game livestreaming company), and that this required an entire country-level IP block after october 7th?