5 ms·

Reddit and Twitter are flooded with semi automated political bots. And it will just get worse. Given that Llama is free to use why does Mera even have to give

Reddit and Twitter are flooded with semi automated political bots. And it will just get worse. Given that Llama is free to use why does Mera even have to give permission, how would they know? It will reinforce the political lines of those with the most resources/motivation who can afford the most human like bots in the greatest number. No way mere humans with only a single manual account each can hope to be influential on those topics. The sooner everyone realizes this the better. I think it means we need to move towards verified user accounts, that tell people you are a real person in the actual country, in any place where there are parties who have interests in manipulation.

cen4 2y ago
First of all the whole notion that Reddit and Twitter are a source of Influence is a joke. That have not been designed to Influence people. They let you believe it cause more than anything else you want to believe it. People have been conditioned to think how many view/upvotes you get = Influence. But if the viewer who reads your post then goes and reads 100 other posts your influence is diluted by 100. Platforms don't show you that even though they are quite capable of showing you that. And that missing Signal is intentional cause it benefits the platforms - oh you aren't getting enough views over the other guy - then pay us more. So people get trapped, just like the Presidential candidates and their campaigns spending more and more each year with zero change in Influence over anything.
- bhouston 2y ago
  > But if the viewer who reads your post then goes and reads 100 other posts your influence is diluted by 100. Platforms don't show you that even though they are quite capable of showing you that. I am specifically referring to /r/worldnews which is a top reddit, 42M members, and it is constantly pro-Israel, even though that should be a minority opinion in the world at this point -- neutral would be more accurate of where people stand. Check out this list of the top stores this week on the topic - all the stories about Palestinians in Gaza dying are at 0 votes, you have to scroll way down: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/search/?q=Israel&cId=8c30bb52-caf4-4480-90a0-389d34789706&iId=b7f7bc80-768e-4301-900a-92e7cc8ef60f&t=week&sort=top https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/search/?q=Israel&cId=8c30... https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/search/?q=Gaza&cId=d519369f-d8e2-4df3-bf91-9ea50d64b0af&iId=675716bf-cfa7-4a8b-a448-597400931b22&sort=top&t=week https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/search/?q=Gaza&cId=d51936... Here is a screenshot of all of the 0 vote stores, they have something in common: https://benhouston3d.com/images/posts/reddit-worldnews-bots/screenshot-0-votes2024-11-05.png https://benhouston3d.com/images/posts/reddit-worldnews-bots/... It is like this every week. If you read Reddit r/worldnews casually, you will not read about dead Palestinians. This is definitely rigged.
  - ThunderBee 2y ago
    I would actually argue the opposite. r/worldnews is one of the few major subreddits that actively blocks the hordes of pro Palestinian bots. The pro Palestinian propaganda campaign being run by US adversaries might be the most effective I’ve ever seen. I could write a very lengthy post on this topic but it’s exceptionally rare to find anyone willing to have a discussion and not a yelling match.
    - bhouston 2y ago
      ThunderBee wrote: > I would actually argue the opposite. r/worldnews is one of the few major subreddits that actively blocks the hordes of pro Palestinian bots. > The pro Palestinian propaganda campaign being run by US adversaries might be the most effective I’ve ever seen. > I could write a very lengthy post on this topic but it’s exceptionally rare to find anyone willing to have a discussion and not a yelling match. I think this is what they claim to be doing, but really they are just blocking people who aren't pro-Israel while claiming they are bots. I think you just explained what is going on. It is being done by the moderators. The majority of opinion in Canada and US is negative on Israel's military campaign. Blocking this viewpoint from r/worldnews is censoring a majority viewpoint because I guess the moderators disagree with it. At least I am understanding now what is going on. For example: * 50% of Canadians believe that Israel is engaging in genocide: https://www.readthemaple.com/polls-show-gap-between-canadian-public-opinion-and-parliament-on-israel/ https://www.readthemaple.com/polls-show-gap-between-canadian... * 40% of all US citizens and the majority of US democrats believe Israel is engaging in genocide: https://www.jpost.com/us-elections/article-800603 https://www.jpost.com/us-elections/article-800603 * Even 30% of American Jews believe Israel is engaging in genocide: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/one-third-of-american-jews-agree-israel-committed-genocide-in-gaza-poll/3238710 https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/one-third-of-american-jews... And even if you don't think that Israel is committing genocide, it doesn't mean you don't care about Palestinians dying in Gaza. The moderators and the non-blocked inhabitants of r/worldnews are creating an alternate reality and self-justifying it by claiming everyone who doesn't agree with them are bots.
      - ThunderBee 2y ago

cen4 2y ago

First of all the whole notion that Reddit and Twitter are a source of Influence is a joke. That have not been designed to Influence people. They let you believe it cause more than anything else you want to believe it. People have been conditioned to think how many view/upvotes you get = Influence. But if the viewer who reads your post then goes and reads 100 other posts your influence is diluted by 100. Platforms don't show you that even though they are quite capable of showing you that. And that missing Signal is intentional cause it benefits the platforms - oh you aren't getting enough views over the other guy - then pay us more. So people get trapped, just like the Presidential candidates and their campaigns spending more and more each year with zero change in Influence over anything.

bhouston 2y ago
> But if the viewer who reads your post then goes and reads 100 other posts your influence is diluted by 100. Platforms don't show you that even though they are quite capable of showing you that. I am specifically referring to /r/worldnews which is a top reddit, 42M members, and it is constantly pro-Israel, even though that should be a minority opinion in the world at this point -- neutral would be more accurate of where people stand. Check out this list of the top stores this week on the topic - all the stories about Palestinians in Gaza dying are at 0 votes, you have to scroll way down: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/search/?q=Israel&cId=8c30bb52-caf4-4480-90a0-389d34789706&iId=b7f7bc80-768e-4301-900a-92e7cc8ef60f&t=week&sort=top https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/search/?q=Israel&cId=8c30... https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/search/?q=Gaza&cId=d519369f-d8e2-4df3-bf91-9ea50d64b0af&iId=675716bf-cfa7-4a8b-a448-597400931b22&sort=top&t=week https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/search/?q=Gaza&cId=d51936... Here is a screenshot of all of the 0 vote stores, they have something in common: https://benhouston3d.com/images/posts/reddit-worldnews-bots/screenshot-0-votes2024-11-05.png https://benhouston3d.com/images/posts/reddit-worldnews-bots/... It is like this every week. If you read Reddit r/worldnews casually, you will not read about dead Palestinians. This is definitely rigged.
- ThunderBee 2y ago
  I would actually argue the opposite. r/worldnews is one of the few major subreddits that actively blocks the hordes of pro Palestinian bots. The pro Palestinian propaganda campaign being run by US adversaries might be the most effective I’ve ever seen. I could write a very lengthy post on this topic but it’s exceptionally rare to find anyone willing to have a discussion and not a yelling match.
  - bhouston 2y ago
    ThunderBee wrote: > I would actually argue the opposite. r/worldnews is one of the few major subreddits that actively blocks the hordes of pro Palestinian bots. > The pro Palestinian propaganda campaign being run by US adversaries might be the most effective I’ve ever seen. > I could write a very lengthy post on this topic but it’s exceptionally rare to find anyone willing to have a discussion and not a yelling match. I think this is what they claim to be doing, but really they are just blocking people who aren't pro-Israel while claiming they are bots. I think you just explained what is going on. It is being done by the moderators. The majority of opinion in Canada and US is negative on Israel's military campaign. Blocking this viewpoint from r/worldnews is censoring a majority viewpoint because I guess the moderators disagree with it. At least I am understanding now what is going on. For example: * 50% of Canadians believe that Israel is engaging in genocide: https://www.readthemaple.com/polls-show-gap-between-canadian-public-opinion-and-parliament-on-israel/ https://www.readthemaple.com/polls-show-gap-between-canadian... * 40% of all US citizens and the majority of US democrats believe Israel is engaging in genocide: https://www.jpost.com/us-elections/article-800603 https://www.jpost.com/us-elections/article-800603 * Even 30% of American Jews believe Israel is engaging in genocide: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/one-third-of-american-jews-agree-israel-committed-genocide-in-gaza-poll/3238710 https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/one-third-of-american-jews... And even if you don't think that Israel is committing genocide, it doesn't mean you don't care about Palestinians dying in Gaza. The moderators and the non-blocked inhabitants of r/worldnews are creating an alternate reality and self-justifying it by claiming everyone who doesn't agree with them are bots.
    - ThunderBee 2y ago