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NYT: Russia used fake accounts on Twitter to sway the 2016 vote and NFL Protests

C

Cels

Member
if people get riled up/fall for tweets containing fake news, isn't the problem with the people who believe them, rather than the tweeters, even if they are russian?

some of the example tweets in the article:
saying hrc funded antifa protests
tying her to benghazi
claiming manafort's fbi investigation vindicated trump's claims that obama wiretapped him

people believe what they want to believe, things like this just stoke some already-simmering flames
 
M

Maxim726X

Member
Cels said:
if people get riled up/fall for tweets containing fake news, isn't the problem with the people, rather than the tweeters, even if they are russian?

some of the example tweets in the article:
saying hrc funded antifa protests
tying her to benghazi
claiming manafort's fbi investigation vindicated trump's claims that obama wiretapped him

people believe what they want to believe, things like this just stoke some already-simmering flames
Click to expand...

Sadly, you can't fix stupid.

But something can be done to limit the spread of falsehoods.
 
D

dskillzhtown

keep your strippers out of my American football
Cels said:
if people get riled up/fall for tweets containing fake news, isn't the problem with the people who believe them, rather than the tweeters, even if they are russian?

some of the example tweets in the article:
saying hrc funded antifa protests
tying her to benghazi
claiming manafort's fbi investigation vindicated trump's claims that obama wiretapped him

people believe what they want to believe, things like this just stoke some already-simmering flames
Click to expand...

Tell someone a lie that they want to believe and they believe it. That still doesn't excuse the liar.
 
M

Mutanthands

Member
dskillzhtown said:
This has been the goal all along. But I am not sure if they understood how unpopular Trump would be.
Click to expand...

Even with that, there’s a significant population of Americans who will never believe the truth because Russia hijacked the conservative media apparatus and pushed it to its illogical conclusion.

They wanted a cultural civil war, and they got it.
 
Z

Zzoram

Member
UrokeJoe said:
This is why I stick to gaming forums only. Sure I've bought some shit here and there because it was hype, but I've been online for a long time so I know whats up.
Click to expand...

Gaming forums aren't immune to bots or Russian trolls. Seeing how the goal is social instability, who knows if they tried to amplify gamer gate.
 
T

Taker666

Member
innervision961 said:
Hm, I don't doubt this, but this scares me. This could be used to justify internet policing and censorship which is no doubt a goal of the "elites". What's the answer here?
Click to expand...

It shouldn't need much policing and censorship...you just need twitter to actually ban their millions of fake users (easy enough to do)....and put systems in place to ban the same exactly worded tweets being put out more than, say, 3 times.

The problem is..you'd piss off news agencies, agents, companies, celebrities etc..who pay for fake followers and pay for bot accounts to push their own stories. Twitter would see their value drop like a rock..so I can't see the ban hammer ever coming down. ..but it really wouldn't be hard to stop 99% of bot activity if they wanted to.
 
A

Afrodium

Banned
Is there just an uptick in stories about Russia's social media use because Mueller is digging into it now, or is more coming to light? I thought this stuff has long been known. Russias's interference in the election via fake news has always been a truth, the investigation has just been into whether or not the Trump campaign had anything to do with it.
 
K

kirblar

Member
Afrodium said:
Is there just an uptick in stories about Russia's social media use because Mueller is digging into it now, or is more coming to light? I thought this stuff has long been known. Russias's interference in the election via fake news has always been a truth, the investigation has just been into whether or not the Trump campaign had anything to do with it.
Click to expand...
Facebook handed over records to Senate investigators. It's almost certainly leaking from there.
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Imagine Twitter or Facebook was a port on the east coast that just let smugglers and terrorists and arms dealers berth and do whatever they liked because they paid. How long do you think that port would be allowed to continue operating? Or what Americans would think of it?


Zzoram said:
Gaming forums aren't immune to bots or Russian trolls. Seeing how the goal is social instability, who knows if they tried to amplify gamer gate.
Click to expand...

There is nothing suspicious about a 2012 account with 0.05 posts per day only caring about negative Hillary stories. Nothing.
 
RPGCrazied

RPGCrazied

Member
We get it, Russia got Trump elected and is creating havoc for us even now. This has Putin written all over it. He doesn't want us to have a democracy.
 
S

SolarPowered

Member
Afrodium said:
Is there just an uptick in stories about Russia's social media use because Mueller is digging into it now, or is more coming to light? I thought this stuff has long been known. Russias's interference in the election via fake news has always been a truth, the investigation has just been into whether or not the Trump campaign had anything to do with it.
Click to expand...
We're being prepared for the reveals of just what went on behind the scenes. I just hope it's not for the worst (the worst being direct manipulation of voter rolls and such) outcome because that is some Defcon 1 level stuff.
 
E

Electric Eye

Banned
Maximo said:
Twitter and Facebook continue to do nothing.
Click to expand...

That's fine because the more stories come about these companies being used as weapons the more people will be suspicious of them and their content and that doesn't help their bottom line. They refuse to do anything then the media will tank their stocks because in the end it's in the medias best interest for FB and Twitter to fail as it send traffic their way for information.
 
C

Chmpocalypse

Blizzard
Taker666 said:
It shouldn't need much policing and censorship...you just need twitter to actually ban their millions of fake users (easy enough to do)....and put systems in place to ban the same exactly worded tweets being put out more than, say, 3 times.

The problem is..you'd piss off news agencies, agents, companies, celebrities etc..who pay for fake followers and pay for bot accounts to push their own stories. Twitter would see their value drop like a rock..so I can't see the ban hammer ever coming down. ..but it really wouldn't be hard to stop 99% of bot activity if they wanted to.
Click to expand...

I think some whitehats are going to have to hack the fuck out of Twitter at this point, just to destroy the infestation.

(Note to intelligence agencies: I have no hacking skills and am only pointing out an avenue those with them will consider if you don't do your job.)
 
A

antonz

Member
More must be done. Most of these easily susceptible people fall for this shit because it fits a narrative they already suspect might be real. So Russia just makes sure hundreds if not thousands of bots are spamming these things so that it gets picked up and spread by real people. The Idea that Twitter is overwhelmed and cannot keep up is horseshit. When thousands of accounts are being setup via the same IP network at all hours of the day that's a pretty damn clear sign there's abuse going on

I would go as far as blocking the Russian Nation from access to the Global Internet for 5-10 years. Russia is a hotbed for Not only this viral fake news crap but for Hacking and Destructive measures in general. The Russian Government operates under the idea as long as you don't fuck with Russia you can fuck with the rest of the world as much as you want.
 
K

Kallor

Member
This is awful, something gotta be done about this shit. Except, we're stuck with king dipshit and millions of people are falling for this shit over and over.

We need Obama back.
 
J

jellies_two

Member
jack has a bot problem he cant seem to address

5sG70JD.jpg


All these bots posted alt-right bullshit 24/7. This one picture is just a tiny drop in a deluge.
 
R

Rizific

Member
People let shit on Twitter influence their vote? I'd say I'm surprised at how fucking stupid some people are, but I'd be lying.
 
J

jellies_two

Member
Rizific said:
People let shit on Twitter influence their vote? I'd say I'm surprised at how fucking stupid some people are, but I'd be lying.
Click to expand...

It's subtle and corrosive they retweet certain people to amplify their stuff they drown out arguments with responses and make everything seem like it has two equal sides. They stop any waverers getting bothered by self doubt. Any hot button discussion is full of what aboutism.
 
Z

Zzoram

Member
Rizific said:
People let shit on Twitter influence their vote? I'd say I'm surprised at how fucking stupid some people are, but I'd be lying.
Click to expand...

People are influenced by peer pressure. If a bunch of accounts pretending to be like you, whether that's a blue collar American from the mid-west or college student from the big city on the coast, keep posting and sharing and retweeting and liking the same kind of stories, and you aren't primed to be suspicious of this type of manipulation, you start to accept that maybe they're onto something. It's ingenious really. This type of manipulation can be used for propaganda but also marketing, and we will probably be seeing more of both in the near future given how successful it's been so far.
 
Z

ZOONAMI

Junior Member
Russia is fucking masterful at manipulating social media to encourage divisiveness in the US. This shit is fucking nutty.
 
J

jellies_two

Member
I remember well before the election whenever Putin the 4d chess player was mentioned people would laugh like, gimme a break, it's ridiculous to think he could be manipulating the situation in insidious ways.
 
S

Spoit

Member
Maxim726X said:
That might be a little harsh. 10 years? The US government may have to intervene if these companies won't police themselves, but it's a bit early to say that nothing can be done for years.
Click to expand...

If they "work with Russia on Cyber", we'll basically have to throw everything out and start all over from scratch, since all those systems will be compromised down to the bedrock.
 
A

Aaronrules380

Member
You know I don't see why twitter can't handle the bot problem by requiring automated accounts to identify as such, and refuse them the ability to like and retweet posts. Would allow them to keep the benefit of automated accounts where they're actually useful while removing a lot of the problems
 
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