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Or, to rephrase this as a question: Is it ethical to spam another democracy with millions of chatbots pretending to be citizens of that country—if the effect is
by bilbo0s 2y ago
Or, to rephrase this as a question: Is it ethical to spam another democracy with millions of chatbots pretending to be citizens of that country—if the effect is to manipulate those citizens to [take any action advantageous to US national interest]...?
Just, Devil's Advocate, but ethical or not, that's what we should be doing and what we are doing. Every nation has its sock puppets out there, our job is to stop everyone else' sock puppets, and do everything we can to extend the reach of our own sock puppets.
- JoshTriplett 2y agoThat's not inherently true. If there were a way to reliably destroy all the sock puppets, we should, and the world would be better off. For instance, reliable bot detection, or mechanisms by which major social networks could detect and prohibit bot-like activity that isn't labeled as such.
- exe34 2y agocharge one penny for every post. most people can afford it. bots become less cost effective and you'd be able to trace the source of funds.
- recursive 2y agoEven if they could afford it, they won't. The UX friction of charging money would send engagement off a cliff, even if the nominal charge was $0.
- exe34 2y agothat's why it should be mandated by law for national security reasons!
- hatthew 2y agoOnly half joking, I feel like the majority of comments on the internet are garbage and not worth the time to read, and increasing friction with a nominal charge isn't necessarily a terrible thing.
- recursive 2y agoIt's a good thing for most people, just not the "platforms" trying to show growth.
- alisonatwork 2y agoThis is a nice idea, but we already know that organized criminals and state actors have no problem spending money to make money (or influence public opinion). On top of that, social media isn't like email where a potential transaction fee increases the cost per person reached - a single post on a hot topic could get millions of views.
- idle_zealot 2y agoI don't think you understand the Devil's Advocate rhetorical device. It's not just a thing you say before you state a morally reprehensible opinion you hold.
- Sabinus 2y agoImo there's a difference between propaganda promoting functioning democracy and propaganda promoting conservative-at-best authoritarianism.
- itishappy 2y agoWhy stop there? Send missiles! Heck, send bioweapons and dirty bombs. It might not be ethical but if others doing it we might as well join 'em. (This is sarcasm. I don't want to live in this world.)
- immibis 2y agoWe do.