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Google Uncovers Russia-Bought Ads On YouTube, Gmail and Other Platforms (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Google has discovered Russian operatives spent tens of thousands of dollars on ads on its YouTube, Gmail and Google Search products in an effort to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a person briefed on the company's probe told Reuters on Monday. The ads do not appear to be from the same Kremlin-affiliated entity that bought ads on Facebook, but may indicate a broader Russian online disinformation effort, according to the source, who was not authorized to discuss details of Google's confidential investigation. The revelation is likely to fuel further scrutiny of the role that Silicon Valley technology giants may have unwittingly played during last year's election. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Moscow's goal was to help elect Donald Trump. Google has uncovered less than $100,000 in ad spending potentially linked to Russian actors, the source said.
These people do realize that $10k to $100k, compared to the $1.2 billion spent on the election is chump change and couldn't have effected squat, right?
1. How many adds CNN/MSNBC/MSM/YOUTUBE/ETC buys that show up to Russian viewers.
2. How many adds may have been bought by Russians that show up to Americans.
Stop the Russian xenophobia.
The problem is lazy, disengaged, stupid voters who vote the way Facebook tells them to. Banning Russian ads (or corporate ads, or any other kind of political ads) won't change this.
And the sore loser Democrats know this. They don't want to change how it all works. They just want to change who gets to manipulate the voter.
Can someone explain to me why Russians buying advertising to influence the US election is wrong, but Americans buying advertising to influence, well, pretty much every election or political body in the world, is perfectly fine?
What is this absurdity that it's only by Russia doing it that makes it wrong? What of the massive influence American/European NGO's have in politics? What about the giant Israeli lobby in the American political system that some would say has massively influenced American intervention in the middle east?
If I buy an advertisement supporting tomorrow's politician and they become a media/political/public Pariah, am I going to be prosecuted for supporting the 'wrong' candidate? Do I get to lose my job like Brendan Eich did for a donation I made ten years ago that went against modern sensibilities?
What the fuck is this orwellian dystopian bullshit and why are so many people just passively nodding their head along to all this shit? What the literal fuck is happening to western democracies and media?
For something like a year now we've heard nothing but accusations of "Russians! Russians! Russians! Russians! Russians!" spewed again and again by left wing politicians and the media, Slashdot included.
Shit, it's like there's a Slashdot submission on the front page about this alleged matter every other day, it seems!
Yet despite so many left wing politicians and media talking heads putting so much time and effort into crafting this "Russia" narrative, we haven't seen any significant evidence of any sort presented to back up the claims.
Just look at what we have here:
Notice that it contains the word "potentially", and the very vague term "Russian actors". There's not even any certainty here, apparently! And the amount of money involved is absolutely trivial when it comes to online marketing.
If something actually happened, and so many left wing politicians and media personnel are so sure of it, then why the hell can't they present some compelling evidence?! They've had a year to produce something, yet they haven't been able to. All we get is really half-assed and very uncertain "evidence" like in this case.
I think we're well beyond a "Boy Who Cried Wolf" situation at this point. This, of course, is dangerous, because it has now trained most Americans to not trust such claims in the future.
If Slashdot has any integrity, I think the editors here should stop wasting our time with these nonsensical submissions unless some substantial and conclusive evidence is presented.
Russians made my loaf of bread go stale! It was just fine when I left it sit out on the table last week - but now it's hard as a rock. I blame Russia! And Trump, I know Trump was working with the rooskies on this one. Bread is good therefore Trump hates bread!
Aside from the fact that the entire "Russia meddling" narrative is BS, they are using extremely poor definitions to make the claims. What what I've been able to tell, "Russian actors" refers to anyone browsing from a Russian IP address or anyone who has their language preferences set to Russian. A random people in Russia placing ads is worlds away from a coordinated effort by an intelligence agency or some other state actor. In addition, many of these "actors" may be US citizens. I myself am a natural born US citizen who currently lives in Russia and often browses with my language set to Russian.
I can't be bothered to answer this nonsense, to be honest. I was originally attracted to slashdot because it was about technology, and you would often come across comments from people with real insight into things, but it has gone downhill - and now it is dominated by people, who prefer to deny simple, observable facts, and who display a strange sort of impenetrable stupidity, assigning perversely twisted meanings to words - like in this comment, where "leftist" apparently means "doesn't agree with me", or perhaps even just "bad". Who knows? Who cares?
One can only waste so much time - I don't mind losing arguments or being proven wrong, but I do mind wasting my time on blind, wilful stupidity. So, I will now log off, delete the bookmark that points to slashdot and move on. I leave without anger or bitterness - so why the parting shot? Well, I know there are some that will agree with me, and who knows - maybe this can be a small nudge in the right direction, and though it is very unlikely, perhaps it can eventually be part of something that will lead to a change I won't know, but others may benefit. That's it - bye now.
People don't vote "the way Facebook tells them to". Facebook posts normalize extreme views and make candidates like Trump seem like a plausible, even good idea. It's the power of peers and large numbers of others appearing to confirm your biases and fears.
Check the recent Brietbart email leaks. They detail this strategy of normalization in detail. It's why the opposition tried to de-normalize Trump, and why they even now keep repeating "this is not normal".
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC