• outerspace@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 days ago

    I I know people in russia (friends of friends) who were paid per comment on american and russian social in support of putin and Trump before his first election. Mostly students, there were farms of them. This thing is real, and back then we talked how most of the discussion online is not real

    • Ledericas@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 days ago

      its funny how people dismiss that part, when i pointed out how most of the news and politics sub had half the commentors as bots from these countries.

    • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 days ago

      And the astroturf farm at Eglin AFB is the highest source of traffic on Reddit. I’m sure the US military’s astroturf output is absolutely eclipsing anything poorly paid students are outputting.

      • Ledericas@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        2 days ago

        reddit reported it was half of the comments on reddit, besides ru being the other competitor. In regards to israel, im betting they are also involved, especially if you go into worldnews.

        • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          2 days ago

          I don’t know. I feel like the competition with Russia is overstated and sold to us by a bloated defense contractors who need a boogeyman. Most of our conflicts with them are born from our aggression on their border, and economic sanctions to maintain our hegemony.

          Plus it’s clear to everyone that the US population no longer holds the levers of power. What would be the point of convincing us to believe anything?

      • outerspace@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 days ago

        If they are doing he same thing you might as well consider it coming from the same source