I don't think it's unlikely that this part of an influence op. I know people hate this sort of conspiratorial thinking, but you don't need much of a conspiracy to make this work, just some people willing to post for pay and people willing to pay them. - ThreadSky

johnbrownstan.bsky.social • 170 days ago

I don't think it's unlikely that this part of an influence op. I know people hate this sort of conspiratorial thinking, but you don't need much of a conspiracy to make this work, just some people willing to post for pay and people willing to pay them.

Reposted from John Brown stan account

Look, I don't know what it means, if anything, but I've seen it three cycles in a row: the comments on NYT's facebook posts in the lead up to an election are all brain-melted right-wing trash, and then the moment the election is over they're normal again.

Comments

ratelimitexceeder.bsky.social•170 days ago

I think most of us don't spend enough time in the brains of low-info Trump voters. They'll scream at the Times up until the election because it's an election year and that's what you do.

connorlynch.bsky.social•170 days ago

Yeah, they do. part of what is going on is that their social cue to do that is driven in part by what they see on social media, and artificial boosting just adds some wind to the sails of it

alexandergruchala.bsky.social•170 days ago

See also the recent presidential election in Romania. Just blatant influence operations.

johnbrownstan.bsky.social•170 days ago

This cycle I came to notice a handful of the same names over and over again, with their comments boosted to the top because they got the most positive reactions. This is not the sort of thing that's difficult to orchestrate.

johnbrownstan.bsky.social•170 days ago

I have no idea how effective this sort of thing would be. The main point is that I think it's happening, and if it's happening there it's probably happening on other platforms too.

obviouspseudonym.bsky.social•170 days ago

It's not at all difficult to believe at least some of the various right-wing billionaire freaks pay people to post agitprop. It's a drop in the bucket and they already openly fund shit like podcasts and YouTubers, so why not people on other sites?

js-53.bsky.social•170 days ago

This. My spidey sense tingles when I look at unlikely followers'
profiles, sometimes before.

spenceman58.bsky.social•170 days ago

There were a lot of right wing trolls on Musk's site that complained about lower engagement after the election.

Probably because the bots were no longer needed.

connorlynch.bsky.social•170 days ago

LLMs probably make this kind of thing cheaper than ever. For every bot called out that posts a poem on command or whatever, there are prob 10 or 100 or 1000 more that post sort of normal benign-ish stuff but then boost absolutely deranged shit

mendelshanks.bsky.social•170 days ago

There are plenty of somewhat clever young dudes who actively enjoy trolling on the internet. If you were an evil billionaire, you could hire dozens of them for like $1M a year. To you, it's pocket change.

mendelshanks.bsky.social•170 days ago

To them, they get to do what they enjoy, and they get paid. It's not a great career or anything, but if you're 19 and you don't have great prospects, it probably seems pretty attractive, at least in the short term.

wes0311.bsky.social•170 days ago

There is precedent

https://www.voanews.com/amp/who-is-that-chinese-troll/3540663.html

rbenjoyer.bsky.social•170 days ago

It was 2016 where I started to frequently find opinions online that were so incredibly idiotic the only reasonable thing to assume was enemy action

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply