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Russia To Act Against Google if Sputnik, RT Get Lower Search Rankings (reuters.com)

Paresh Dave and Jack Stubbs, reporting for Reuters: The Kremlin will take action against Alphabet's Google if articles from Russian news websites Sputnik and Russia Today are placed lower in search results, the Interfax news service cited Russia's chief media regulator as saying on Tuesday. Alexander Zharov, head of media regulator Roskomnadzor, said his agency sent a letter to Google on Tuesday requesting clarification on comments Saturday by Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt about how the Russian websites would be treated in search, according to Interfax. "We will receive an answer and understand what to do next," Interfax quoted Zharov as saying. "We hope our opinion will be heard, and we won't have to resort to more serious" retaliatory measures.

86 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Google doesn't do this by JustNiz · · Score: 1

    >> No, they do not distort facts or information

    Exactly what do you think hiding search results is then?

  2. Is this a new SEO technique? "Note to self: Ask the government to help me increase my page ranking"

    --
    That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
  3. Honestly google fucked up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The moment they started manually messing with search rankings in order to appease people they fucked up.
    They should have their algorithm and let the chips fall where they may.
    That way no one can accuse you of favoritism or whatever.

    1. Re:Honestly google fucked up by Tranzistors · · Score: 1

      They should have their algorithm and let the chips fall where they may.

      Was the algorithm given by the God almighty himself and any tinkering with it is desecration? No. Ever since the early days people have tired to game The Algorithm and it had to be tweaked to counter it. All those tweaks are manual, be it in the algorithm itself or blacklisting. Do you really want to return back to the days where page relevance was determined only by how many other pages referenced it?

    2. Re:Honestly google fucked up by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The algorithms themselves are heavily hand-tuned to prevent abuse. It's necessary because bad actors are also investing a lot of time and energy into finding ways to game the system.

      It's unavoidable when you opponent is another human. Spam filters are the same, they need human tuning to work.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  4. in all fairness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If the content comes from outside my country, maybe the content should be downranked. It's not just a Russia thing, it's a relevance thing.

    1. Re:in all fairness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It sounds simple, but who defines outside my country? RT America produces content in Washington DC, for example. If we choose to ignore Reuters because it's based in the UK, how do we feel about Rupert Murdoch owning News Corp?

    2. Re:in all fairness by Mashiki · · Score: 2

      If the content comes from outside my country, maybe the content should be downranked. It's not just a Russia thing, it's a relevance thing.

      The problem is, there are many times where the media *in* your own country won't cover something because of reasons. That happened an awful lot under the Obama(US), Chretien(Canada) and now under Trudeau Jr.(Canada). If you want to find what's really going on, it's almost required that you read opposition news media, or in some cases foreign news media. When I was a kid in the early 80's, I used to listen to USSR, UK, US and CDN media on longwave. That was the only way you got the full story on pretty much any subject. Funny enough, it was ingrained in my by my mother's side of the family who escaped from eastern germany and that was after my grandfather spent 10 years in a gulag after the holodomor they lived through.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    3. Re: in all fairness by Jzanu · · Score: 1

      Low ranking means less clicks = less money so itâ(TM)s the fake news scammers that will be hit by this, not actual information integrity. Someone interested in Tibetans can search âoeTibetan Ethnic Traitsâ -Wikipedia etc and find anything as before, meaning protesters are only those with vested interest in clickbait revenues.

    4. Re: in all fairness by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Except we're talking about news. You seem to have missed the last ~8 years where the news media decided to go down the path of clickbait.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
  5. Re:Stewards Folly 2 - the Returnering by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

    Did you mean Seward's Folly?

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  6. I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" here. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm getting pretty tired of the whole "Russia narrative" that we get subjected to here at Slashdot again and again and again and again.

    A Slashdot search for "russia" and a Slashdot search for "linux" both have Thursday October 19, 2017 as the date of the earliest submission listed on the first page of results.

    So we get subjected to a submission about Russia just about as often as we get to read something about Linux!

    It gets worse when we do a Slashdot search for "programming". The earliest submission on the first page of results if from Saturday October 14, 2017!

    So we get subjected to noticeably more Russia submissions than programming submissions.

    And a Slashdot search for "scifi" brings us to Saturday May 06, 2017. A Slashdot search for "science fiction" is even worse, taking us all of the way back to Saturday December 19, 2015!

    Obviously we get subjected to far more Russia submissions than any having to do with sci-fi.

    If we wanted to hear about Russia every single day, then we could just go read the news on CNN or MSNBC or BBC or some other mainstream news site.

    The whole point of Slashdot is to learn about technology/science/math/computing-oriented news that the mainstream outlets don't have enough time or incentive to cover.

    Yeah, a relevant submission about Russia now and then would be fine, but this constant barrage of "Russia Russia Russia Russia Russia Russia ..." is getting old.

    We should be able to read about topics like Linux and programming and sci-fi far more often than about Russia of all things.

  7. Re: Google doesn't do this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    They're not hidden, not censored, they have just been reranked. This is the same model that is used here on Slashdot.

  8. Oh, hi there, Mister Black Hole? by IonOtter · · Score: 1

    Google is big enough that if they were to "black hole" enough of Russia's systems, they would be effectively booted off the Internet.

    So long as it's not an actual government agency doing it, the various governments can just toss up their hands and say, "Hey, you pissed off a private company. Isn't capitalism great?"

    --
    [End Of Line]
    1. Re:Oh, hi there, Mister Black Hole? by rtb61 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What the fuck, seriously what the fuck. You sound like a cultist that has drunk way, way too much google cool aid. Google is basically a web site that searches the internet and nothing more. First they started with do no evil and then the corporates took over and it was do evil all the fucking time. Basically either Google ponies up details or the Russian government kicks them out to favour Russian enterprises competing in the same area. To put it simply https://duckduckgo.com/?q=fuck... or the funnier version https://www.yandex.com/search/....

      Google's number one marketing skill is self promotion. Scamming advertisers into believing they need to spend shit tons of money with Google to sell product and all based upon Googles research proving it, yep, uh huh. Google does only one thing well, self promote, sell the ability of Google to sell, reality is every one ignores googles ads, everyone skips youtube ads, google has very little influence in reality and that control, is the control over the people it sells it's marketing lies to, the real suckers spending billions on google ads that lead no where.

      Now you have the big shit at alphabet carrying on like they have the actual power, they pretend to for marketing purpose. I can't tell whether the big shit is gas lighting them or he believes his own marketing and hype and sees himself as a internet GOD.

      The internet connects people without people the internet is nothing. It is the people that give meaning to the internet. Google is shit, a big marketing scam, that has in the most pathetic cultist way started to believe it owns marketing. When google cuts off people it actually cuts itself out and the more people google isolates the more isolated google becomes. The reality is google has fuck all power and is the people's bitch, now suffering from delusions of grandeur and is going to get a rude awakening.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    2. Re:Oh, hi there, Mister Black Hole? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      I doubt they have the courage.

      Going back years they "pin" RT's content on almost all of the Google News stories. Even if you're logged in and try to "personalize" the news to remove them completely, there will still be an RT link under most of the stories, with a headline claiming the opposite of whatever the story it is under says.

      Google probably rolled over on this one before the story was even published. They choose their battles, and this isn't one they even are going to admit exists.

    3. Re:Oh, hi there, Mister Black Hole? by m3mnoch · · Score: 2

      so, i think i agree with the black hole sentiment.

      how many .ru domains are there that make a living (both legal and illegal) off search results? how many "fake news" sites are there that originate in russia? how many email spammers live in russia? how many apps in the google play store originate in russia?

      if suddenly nobody can find any product or service that has an ip address in russia? if all of a sudden the largest email provider (currently with a billion users) blocks everything from russia? what happens if all of a sudden all the android phones (66% of the worldwide marketshare) suddenly stop working with russia-originating software?

      it's pretty terrifying, personally, to think about the massive power google wields. especially for a nation that relies so heavily on spreading internet propaganda.

    4. Re:Oh, hi there, Mister Black Hole? by farble1670 · · Score: 2

      Another genious quoting "do no evil" from 1998.

      First they started with do no evil and then the corporates took over and it was do evil all the fucking time.

      What? A corporation seeking profits? Say it isn't so!

      the real suckers spending billions on google ads that lead no where.

      Yes, indeed. The people that spend hundreds of billions of dollars on advertising really don't know anything. They probably don't do any sort of studies or research to understand if they are throwing hundreds of billions of dollars down the toilet, because you know, they really hate money and don't care if they lose it. They should hire brainiacs like you to run they corporations. It'd save them hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

      But you probably think your superior brain makes you immune, right? I think there's a lot of folks like you. The truth is that these people are the most severe victims. The first step to dealing with advertising is knowing that it effects you. If you can't even take the first step of acknowledgment, you're lost.

  9. Re:Google doesn't do this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's their RIGHT to organize search rankings as they see fit, and the right of others to accuse them of bias in suits. That's capitalism. It's funny when conservatives don't support these things just because it's xyz company that isn't 100% republican.

  10. A good reaction by rossz · · Score: 1, Troll

    A good reaction to this demand is to set all the top search results for "Putin" to be related to organized crime and corruption.

    See who caves first.

    --
    -- Will program for bandwidth
  11. Re:Google doesn't do this by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

    Exactly what do you think hiding search results is then?

    Why are you complaining now? Why didn't you complain before when they only showed 10 of the possible 15 bilion results on the first page.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  12. Good!! by benjfowler · · Score: 1, Insightful

    When will Russia learn that they can't force us to acquiesce by issuing an endless stream of threats and lies?

    Google are absolutely going the right thing. Just as well, they can afford to.

    Putin can go and fuck himself.

    1. Re:Good!! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      When will Russia learn that they can't force us to acquiesce by issuing an endless stream of threats and lies?

      When it stops working.

      Google are absolutely going the right thing. Just as well, they can afford to.

      LOL

    2. Re:Good!! by Aighearach · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sure, if you think of international megacorps as being part of "the West" then I can see why you might presume that they would respond to the situation in a culturally beneficial way.

      But what if they're greedy, and have no cultural loyalties other than to corporate money culture?

  13. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Well, wah? Maybe if Trump didn't provably collude with Russia you would have less undesirable news in your feed? Think about it that way.

  14. PROTIP: The entire world is close to a US embargo. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The abusive bully yelling "What are you going to do, hahahahaha!" is always the last think the bully says, before another kid gives him the surprise knockout.

    I was that kid in school. Twice.
    The second time, in 10th class, the teacher didn't even blink. Bullirs get what they deserve.

    The BRICS countries work hard on freeing themselves from the US. The whole point of the EU is, to counter the US influence, in case you hadn't noticed. And the third world countries never could stand you to begin with. Which might have something to do with you invading and toppling the government of nearly every single one of them.

    Everybody hates you. You are all alone. The only reason anybod listens to your notjob government aka psycho industry, is because you threaten everyone who doesn't. And that starts to fail now
    So excuse me, while I get my popcorn.

  15. Re: Empirical Evidence by JackAxe · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Quick, report him to the authority! That will be the proof you need that the Russians HACKED the election, which we know is ""true"".. Why? Because Hillary's privately hired security firm(Crowd Strike ), says MAYBE the RUSSIANS hacked the DNC server, which NO NO ONE OUR government has ever looked over to confirm is there's even a MAYBE! And those that say they were MAYBE confident it was plausible, were hand picked and appointed by the Obama administration to give their OPINION on this fake-national-security. But who cares about facts when we have feelings, let's instead use it as an excuse to impose censorship on the web.

  16. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by mrwireless · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The thing is that technology has moved to the center of our political reality. Personally I'm equally interested in both types of stories, and feel that there is a good balance.

    What I do worry about is that in many of these more political stories the comments often seem very reactionary. For example, on the stories about how Russia used Facebook to drive the left and right further apart. There you get comments like "nothing to see here, we always had propaganda, doing it through Facebook doesn't change much". While clearly it changes the scale, precision, subtlety and cost - all meaningful differences. But there were multiple comments downplaying if that all got up-voted. That gets me more worried. It means that either Slashdot is being manipulated, or that Slashdot's more critical readers have disappeared.

    So for me the problem is not these stories, the problem is the low quality of discussion around them.

  17. Ignore Russia. by WCMI92 · · Score: 1

    Except that they wonâ(TM)t google canâ(TM)t stand to leave any money on the table no matter what they will end up having to do to get it.

    --
    Corporatism != Free Market
  18. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by Aighearach · · Score: 1

    Dude, he like, can't hear you.

  19. The point is... by wjcofkc · · Score: 2, Interesting

    And this point stretches far beyond just this. Google, with their own corporate culture driven motives, is totally incompetent to focus on anything but the most absolute and fundamental core competencies of their business. This goes for everything under Alphabet. They have been doing a great job of screwing up all kinds of shit lately. They need to remember the core purposes behind their business's and stick with that. Stepping outside of these things in every direction is why I maintain they are they next business too big to fail. As they continue to try and be more than what they are, their fall will be one of those industry shaking overnight type deals. Give it till 2020, no later.

    --
    Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
    1. Re:The point is... by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 3, Informative

      Based on the clarity and brilliance of your remarks, I believe I'll buy some GOOG.

      --
      Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
  20. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by interkin3tic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's not one Russia narrative, it's several, all of which are relevant to slashdot. It's almost like they're a major power in the world and there are a lot of facets to it!

    2016 election: Russia relevant (not saying Russia did it, just it's a story)

    Cybersecurity: Russia relevant

    Censorship online: Russia relevant

    Anything geopolitical: Russia relevant

    Uranium (non-political): Russia relevant.

    Wikileaks: Russia relevant.

    Partisan politicial issue about GOP, dems, greens: Russia relevant.

    Is it possible that you're just upset because you're worried Russia will turn out to have ties to your preferred political side (applies to all sides)?

  21. Re: Empirical Evidence by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    Quick, report him to the authority! That will be the proof you need that the Russians HACKED the election, which we know is ""true""..

    Hold on there cowboy! This is all fake news because Russia doesn't act upon people on the internet. Just a planted story by Hillary.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  22. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by farble1670 · · Score: 1

    [citation needed]

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0...

    You're right though, really no provable connection between Trump and his campaign-manager son.

  23. Re:Google doesn't do this by farble1670 · · Score: 1

    Exactly what do you think hiding search results is then?

    It's de-ranking fake news stories. I'm good with that.

    Don't worry Trump will still link this crap in his tweets.

  24. Re:Stewards Folly 2 - the Returnering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Nah, it would mean using the USD which is riddled with debt. Which would mean China, Japan and Saudi Arabia would own most of Russia since they hold most of the US debt.

  25. Re: Empirical Evidence by youngone · · Score: 1

    I find myself in possession of a few mods points, then I come across this comment, and have no idea what to do:
    -1 Troll? No, it's too weird to be a troll
    -1 Flamebait? No, too funny to be Flamebait
    +1 Insightful? Pardon? Um, no. I don't blame Slashdot for this, but maybe we need a -1 Weirdo mod (also +1 Weirdo) or -1 Poor Conspiracy Theory maybe.
    Anyway, too much ALL CAPS SHOUTING.

  26. So... do we actually have evidence of anything ? by RedK · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm looking at RT.com's front page right now. Everything looks semi-normal, no glaring "FAKE!" story, at least stories that go completely counter to what Western media is spouting. Taking a particular piece, about Lebanon's Hariri and the whole "quitting from Saudi Arabia" debacle of the last week :

    https://www.rt.com/news/410561...

    Comparing said story with the Washington Post's story on the same event shows near identical facts being stated by both outlets :

    https://www.washingtonpost.com...

    So... what's the issue with RT.com's coverage ? Only the fact that it's state sponsered ? But by that token, so is PBS, BBC, CBC, ABC (the Australian ABC, not the American one!)... This all seems rather unfair and lacking any actual substance. It seems to be ... actual anti-Russian propaganda in a way. Maybe if Alphabet were a bit more transparent about their findings that led up to this decision. I mean, surely they're not just doing this based on the "Russian meddling" narrative, that's based on a report from a private firm like Crowdstrike... or worse... the Steele Dossier that's been proven false in many regards. And why are they not blocking Buzzfeed news ? Let's be real. Buzzfeed.

    --
    "Not to mention all the idiots who use words like boxen."
    Anonymous Coward on Monday August 04, @06:49PM
  27. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by RedK · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That story got debunked hard. The Russian lawyer was magnitsky act lobbyist, and it was a setup. Both Jr. and the Lawyer were lied to about the meeting. Also, it's not actually collusion or illegal to receive information from foreign nationals about political opponents. What's illegal is paying for it.

    Not to mention the links that Natalia Veselnitskaya has with Fusion GPS, which brings us to ... You know... the DNC and Clinton campaign paying for the Steele Dossier from Fusion GPS. Why do you think nothing ever came out of the Russian Lawyer meeting ?

    If anything, we're discovering that any and all collusion in the election goes through Fusion GPS. And it all ties back to the DNC.

    --
    "Not to mention all the idiots who use words like boxen."
    Anonymous Coward on Monday August 04, @06:49PM
  28. Re: Empirical Evidence by JackAxe · · Score: 5, Informative

    This Russian-Hacked-Our-Election is a an actual Conspiracy Theory being pushed by the establishment/media.So do you believe it? If so, you belive in conspiracy theories. ;)

    But you posted, so that opens up another option, as in you're obviously willing to have a discussion, so here I'll provide a few links. The more people that can actually look past this mainstream media-conspiracy about a Russian-hack, the better:

    The DNC server is the source of this Russian hack conspiracy that's being shoved down our throats. So if this is true, you'd think our government would have looked at it right? They haven't:
    Pick through the links, they're abundant and verifiable -- even Donna B. commented on it when she somewhat betrayed the DNC-cult after releasing her book:
    https://duckduckgo.com/?q=DNC+...

    We only have the word of Crowd Strike that maybe the DNC server was hacked. It's a belief, not a fact. So as mentioned, no one in our government has looked at it. Why is this?
    http://investmentwatchblog.com...

    https://www.washingtontimes.co...

    I've been paying attention to what's going on, so it's hard to buy into any of this Russia-lie. And I like occasional CAPS, so suck it. Yelling is every single word in caps. :)

  29. Re: Empirical Evidence by JackAxe · · Score: 1

    No more room, you're already there and you've really messed it up with your abundance of derp. Now excuse me, while I leave you to your pile of derp, unless you want to learn more about the sad state of this Russian-Hacked-Our-Election Conspiracy Theory?

  30. Re: Empirical Evidence by JackAxe · · Score: 1

    I think I'm reading your response wrong? If so, I apologize. I was being sarcastic on the "true" part, as there's absolutely no evidence of the hack, none at all, just an ideological-belief. But if you or others do have actual proof of this supposed hack/collusion, the entire establishment and mainstream media would worship the ground you walked on.

  31. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by farble1670 · · Score: 2

    That story got debunked hard.

    No, it didn't. We have the email. We have a Russian operative asking Jr. if he was interested in dirt about the Clintons. We have Jr. responding to the email "I love it".

    Also, it's not actually collusion or illegal to receive information from foreign nationals about political opponents. What's illegal is paying for it.

    Yes, we'll see. We have very smart, determined people that will decide that. Or maybe you have more evidence and research than these people and you're ready to call it? Check your scientific method bub.

    What I know is that Trump's campaign at least conspired with an unfriendly foreign power to affect election results. Even if it's not illegal, America will decide if it was all in good fun, or not.

    If anything, we're discovering that any and all collusion in the election goes through Fusion GPS. And it all ties back to the DNC.

    No, we're not. Only nutjobs are going down that path. Seriously can you people do anything greater than regurgitate Fox news? It's just sad at this point.

  32. This makes Google less useful to me... by temcat · · Score: 1

    ...because I don't need it to decide for me what's propaganda/fake news and what's not. I just need the results to be relevant to my search terms. Yes I know that some results may be fake while relevant. But I'm an adult, I can deal with that. (Of course, it's their search engine and their right—that's not the issue.)

  33. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by RedK · · Score: 2

    No, it didn't. We have the email. We have a Russian operative asking Jr. if he was interested in dirt about the Clintons. We have Jr. responding to the email "I love it".

    The e-mail with Jr. was not from a Russian operative.

    What I know is that Trump's campaign at least conspired with an unfriendly foreign power to affect election results.

    But they didn't conspire and it didn't affect the election results.

    No, we're not. Only nutjobs are going down that path. Seriously can you people do anything greater than regurgitate Fox news? It's just sad at this point.

    Congress are nut jobs ?

    https://www.reuters.com/articl...

    You must just watch CNN.

    --
    "Not to mention all the idiots who use words like boxen."
    Anonymous Coward on Monday August 04, @06:49PM
  34. Re: Empirical Evidence by JackAxe · · Score: 1

    Must not add to the derp no matter how tempting, it's become an epidemic this last year with too many of my fellow Americans deciding to just go with what they've been told! I must avoid the pile and hang out with the unpopular kids that don't believe in this Russian conspiracy!

  35. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by is+as+us+Infinite · · Score: 1

    Slashdot is absolutely being manipulated. It's one of the major targets of Russian info ops.

    --
    Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur. . . . . . . .
  36. Re: Empirical Evidence by JackAxe · · Score: 1

    Oh noOOooooos. Feelings must have gotten hurt by some overly sensitive moderator. How dare I express a different view point. It must have encroached on their safe place. I'd rather be modded a troll, than continue to go along with this spoon-fed-conspiracy-theory about the Russians hacking, colluding, baking, or whatever our election, that's being forced down our throats by a bunch of conspiracy-theorists.

    BTW, I write things with a smile, but posts don't always convey that, even with this emoticon. :)

  37. Re:So... do we actually have evidence of anything by Mashiki · · Score: 2

    So... what's the issue with RT.com's coverage ?

    They're russian. You're now getting a dose of cold war politics being pushed by the left because of some ideological reason. That reason is, they're so determined to believe that it was Russia that cost Hillary the presidency, they're willing to triple down.

    --
    Om, nomnomnom...
  38. Different by Crass+Spektakel · · Score: 2, Insightful

    One has to differ between these four "offizicial state media":

    1. Russia Today Russian Site
    2. Russia Today International Site
    3. sputniknews.com Russian Site
    4. sputniknews.com International Site

    All four usually deliver 80% of rather well written and researched. Stuff like "heavy rain damaged a road" or "prices for apples are up". Sometimes they even critizise single politicians. Not Putin and never the system for sure. You read rarelly about the opposition.

      It is the other 20% where things are getting interesting.

    1. and 2. usually reports whatever the russian goverment wants to get reported and do so in a mostly sincere way. They will not outright fabricate fake news or conspiracy theories but will gladly repeat these if the goverment came up with em. Most disputed content is given a heavy pro-goverment tone.

    3. and 4. are less strict about bullshit. You will sometimes read really lame fake news and strange stuff and they will not even stay clear of fabricating "alien abduction stories" and worse... also they often click traps like "war porn", "whataboutism" and such stuff.

    be aware: The russian and international edition often differ on subjects.

    How would they represent "fake moon landing"?
    1. "it happened but most parts have been overdramatized through selective media representation"
    2. "it happened but some parts have been rearranged through selective media representation"
    3. "there are many people and lots of evidence it never happened that way. Most americans don't believe it either.
    3. "there are some people and some evidence it never happened that way. Smarter americans don't believe it either.

    fun fact, there is a german public broadcast station sputnik.de targeting teens and tweens, broadcasting music and news from entertainment which gets mixed up a lot with sputniknews.com.

    --
    "Life is short and in most cases it ends with death." Sir Sinclair
    1. Re:Different by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1, Informative

      RT 9/11 conspiracy theories playlist: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/...

      RT "Climategate" conspiracy theories playlist: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/...

      They are associated with Infowars too, regularly interviewing Alex Jones and reposting Infowars content.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  39. Re: Empirical Evidence by Aighearach · · Score: 1

    They tuk er jrrrrrrrbs!!!!! They tuk er jrrrrrrrbs!!!

    Oh yeah, you don't think everybody is gonna jump in the pile in 2017, that's because they're gonna wait until after New Years!

  40. So I guess by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    Putin will switch to Yahoo as search engine then.

  41. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    2016 election: Russia relevant (not saying Russia did it, just it's a story)

    Sounds like the same "reasoning" used to "teach the controversy" on intelligence design, vaccines causing autism, and whether or not climate change is happening. You know, where the media gives credence to crackpots instead of calling them out on their bullshit.

    Which is what the Russia hysteria is: bullshit. There is as much evidence to support the narratives you rattled off as there is that the government is doing mind control via Chem Trails from airplanes.

  42. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    No, it didn't.

    Yeah. It did.

    We have a Russian operative asking Jr. if he was interested in dirt about the Clintons. We have Jr. responding to the email "I love it".

    And that's the most that came out of that little chestnut. Thus the debunking.

    Yes, we'll see. We have very smart, determined people that will decide that.

    Deep state hacks, you mean. Besides, why do Russiphobes continue to fuck this chicken after it came out that not only did the Clinton campaign solicit the Steele Dossier, it paid for it. Which relies on Russian sources.

    This is pure Swiftboating from Democrats: smear your opponent of something you are guilty of.

  43. Re:PROTIP: The entire world is close to a US embar by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    In truth the rest of the world are sick to death with both the US and Russia at this stage

    You're equating the US with Russia? Has Russia spent the last 15 years bombing countries on the other side of the planet for bullshit reasons? The U.S. has a thousand military bases around the world - how many does Russia have.

    etc.

  44. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by Tough+Love · · Score: 2

    Did anyone ever mention to you that collusion is not a crime? However, conspiracy against the government of the USA is a crime, a high crime in fact. That is what the Trump campaign is being investigated for, that and money laundering, possibly tax evasion as well. And, oh perjury. And, hmm, assorted unconstitutional activities. And, um, obstruction of justice. Hmm, probably that's not the end of it.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  45. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by Freischutz · · Score: 2

    If anything, we're discovering that any and all collusion in the election goes through Fusion GPS. And it all ties back to the DNC.

    What is conveniently forgotten in the ongoing efforts to whitewash Trump is that Fusion GPS was originally hired by the Republican party to gather intel on Trump. It was the GOP and their friends who started the infamous dossier not the Democrats. Then Trump became the torchbearer of Republican hopes, the next Ronald Reagan and unifier of the nation, the Fusion GPS/Steel data was orphaned because the Republicans bet the farm on Trump and in the best traditions of American capitalism Fusion GPS took their product to the next most interested party, the DNC. Steele was retained by Fusion GPS before Trump won the GOP nomination and Fusion GPS had been gathering dirt on Trump for a long time by then. Not that any of this Russia stuff is what is most likely to bring Trump down. My money is on Trump going down in flames over something money related, probably laundering money from some very dirty sources and eventually when his tax returns finally get leaked, massive amounts of tax evasion. Trump is just far too vulnerable on the money side of things and has done too much shady business with too many shady people for it not to blow back on him. The only thing that can save him now is that the American people decide that Trump is such a good president that they don't care how corrupt and generally just what a vile person he is.

  46. Re:PROTIP: The entire world is close to a US embar by Uberbah · · Score: 2

    You're equating the US with Russia? Has Russia spent the last 15 years bombing countries on the other side of the planet for bullshit reasons?

    Yes, or more specifically, Russia have been bombing nearby nations the last 15 years.

    Specifically, which countries in Central America has Russia been bombing since 2002?

    Don't pretend like Ukraine and Georgia aren't under attack from Russia.

    They aren't, you fascist POS. Georgia invaded South Ossetia and the United States overthrew the elected government of Ukraine.

    Oh, and of course Russia is also engaged in the current conflict in Syria and a couple of other middle east nations.

    At Syria's invitation, to defeat U.S. and Saudi sponsored ISIS and Al Queda terrorists occupying the country. Decidedly not a bullshit reason, as opposed to the illegal American wars on Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia....

    And are supplying North Korea with nuclear weapons for apparently no other reason than to create instability.

    NK built their own nukes as regime change insurance against the invasion the U.S. has been practicing every year since the 90's. You aren't even trying here, are you?

    This is such a bullshit argument. Those are NATO bases and the U.S. have soldiers there because the host countries wants them there because of Russia threatening them.
    If Russia didn't behave like a dick then the host countries would have thrown the U.S. presence out long ago.

    Your bullshit. It's NATO that's been threatening Russia, not Russia threatening anyone else. But again: how many bases does Russia have around the world compared to the United States?

  47. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    Are you pretending that Russia didn't just recently do a hostile takeover of Crimea and attack Ukraine?

    Crimea overwhelmingly voted to join Russia after your literal neo-Nazi pals in Ukraine started passing legislation hostile to minorities. Pals that were put in place when the United States overthrew the elected government of Ukraine.

    So get the fuck outta here with your neocon propaganda.

    Are you claiming that Putin doesn't regularly kill off journalists to make sure that the news says what he wants them to say?

    Let's go ahead and say that all these assassinations actually happened and aren't just unproven neocon propaganda. Putin's still no worse than the United States, which has persecuted journalists and whisteblowers on its own soil, deliberately bombed press offices on foreign soil, and asked for journalists to be kept in brutal prisons for the "crime" of revealing U.S. claims on cluster bombs to be...neocon propaganda.

  48. And I'm sure that Yandex boosts Google results by thisisauniqueid · · Score: 1

    And I'm sure that Yandex boosts the ranking of Google search results in their listings, since fair is fair.

  49. Re:So... do we actually have evidence of anything by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Informative

    RT pumps out conspiracy theories on an industrial scale. For example, here is a compilation of 50 of their 9/11 conspiracy theories: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

    Granted, Fox like a good conspiracy too, but even they can't match RT's dedication to manufacturing bullshit. They have reposted material from Infowars and had uber-conspiracy nut Alex Jones on many times. This story is a good example, this being the Infowars original.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  50. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by farble1670 · · Score: 1

    Yeah. It did.

    No, it didn't. This may come as a surprise, but just saying something doesn't make it true. You see how I linked a story from a reputable news source? One that includes citations and includes their sources? Welcome to Facts 101, where don't swallow your baseless troll crap anymore.

    And that's the most that came out of that little chestnut. Thus the debunking.

    That's enough for me. Putting aside whether there's a crime, it's f'ing awful to collude (not in the legal sense, relax) with an aggressive foreign power for your own gain. America first, not the Republican party, and not T's investments.

    Besides, why do Russiphobes continue to fuck this chicken after it came out that not only did the Clinton campaign solicit the Steele Dossier

    Curious. Why is there no investigation? Why can't the sitting president, with a majority congress get an investigation into this obvious crime by Hilary? Why is there instead an investigation into Trump et. al? Why have multiple people from Trump's crew been indicted? Why did *nothing* come out of years of prior investigation into H's various financial and political dealings? 5+ years of digging and nothing? The Republican party has *all* the power right now. What gives?

    A little Occam's Razor might benefit you here.

  51. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by farble1670 · · Score: 1

    The e-mail with Jr. was not from a Russian operative.

    Define "operative". I define it has someone operating on behalf of Russia or Russian investors. So yes, it was.

    If you deny that, maybe you could explain their motivation? What did this person stand to gain? Just a concerned Russian citizen then? Duh.

    But they didn't conspire and it didn't affect the election results.

    You trolls can repeat this until you're blue in the face. We aren't listening anymore. We're going to listen to the results of the people that are researching this, that have access to information and facts. You, and I, know nothing at this point.

    Congress are nut jobs ?

    I'm all for investigating everyone. The R's had 5 years of investigation into Hilary. What came of that anyway?

    But anyway, as a final thought, ruminate on this: R's own this country right now. They can do anything they want. Why is a special council investigating Trump et. al and not the obvious criminal here Hilary Clinton? A little common sense, and a bit of Occam's Razor will serve you well here.

  52. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

    Sucks to be you, Ivan

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  53. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

    Ah, sorry about that, you are completely correct. Does not mean that Trump and his cronies should escape prosecution.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  54. If you rely on algorithms to define "fake news" by Rujiel · · Score: 1

    ... then i doubt you'd recognize the real news when it's staring you in the face, such as the fact of google choosing what news outlets will have exposure at all. Sleep tight little sheep

    1. Re:If you rely on algorithms to define "fake news" by farble1670 · · Score: 1

      Sleep tight little sheep

      Sorry comrade. Your handlers may have told you that Americans are triggered by words like "sheep", because we pride ourselves on freedom, and not being part of the pack. Be that as it may, we're learning about your tactics. Your're going to need to figure out a different attack vector.

    2. Re:If you rely on algorithms to define "fake news" by Rujiel · · Score: 2

      Actually, if you'd been paying attention to paid shilling on here the last few years--as opposed to just recently when it became convenient to find things to blame on the Russians--US govt. and corporate shills have been here for years. Go read old (~2013) threads on network neutrality, nuclear energy, Julian Assange, etc., and ask yourself what Russia would have to gain from any of the clear and present trolling therein.

      Pro-tip: Russia doesn't care about slashdot. It doesn't care about "sowing discord", despite when your fevered Rachel Maddow-turned-Glenn Beck fairweather-neocon talking heads tell you. There's much information out there about government-paid shills, and they aren't Russian.

      https://theintercept.com/2014/...

      Go read some threads around the time of Snowden's relevations
      and notice all the spammy and straight-up disinformation in the comments. Now ask yourself, "why would Russia want to trash Snowden?" Then put two and two together, ditch your naiive russian victim fantasies and look in the fucking mirror, because it's your tax money that's paying for all the anonymous N-bombs and other garbage spam that has made slashdot's comments section insufferable the last while.

      Like I said, sleep tight.

      p.s. I'd hope for your sake that I'm not a Russian, because having a worse grasp of English grammar than a non-native speaker would be pretty sad.

  55. Re:Google doesn't do this by JustNiz · · Score: 1

    Thanks for such a childish answer, it only underlines that you have no sensible counterargument.

  56. Re:Google doesn't do this by JustNiz · · Score: 1

    Sorry but unlike you, I'm not prepared to give up my freedom to think for myself and just buy into the libtard lockstep social agenda brainwashing.

  57. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by ArylAkamov · · Score: 1

    The funny thing is you making outlandish claims with zero evidence, then saying those that disagree aren't American.

  58. Re:Google doesn't do this by farble1670 · · Score: 1

    Sorry but unlike you, I'm not prepared to give up my freedom to think for myself and just buy into the libtard lockstep social agenda brainwashing.

    And comments like this can only be posted by a Russian propagandist. I mean really, it's comical. You are calling someone a "libtard" for suggesting that purposefully inflammatory, divisive, and fake posts by aggressive foreign powers should be called out into the open.

    Someone has to be paying you to be this retarded. There's no other excuse.

  59. Re:Google doesn't do this by JustNiz · · Score: 1

    >> comments like this can only be posted by a Russian propagandist.

    haha lol. Thanks for proving my point, Anyone with an opinion different from yours must be a commie and be shunned. As I said, typical Libtard.

  60. Re: I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" he by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    Actually that's false:

    Marc E. Elias, a lawyer representing the Clinton campaign and the DNC, retained Fusion GPS, a Washington firm, to conduct the research.

    After that, Fusion GPS hired dossier author Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer with ties to the FBI and the U.S. intelligence community, according to those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

    Elias and his law firm, Perkins Coie, retained the company in April 2016 on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the DNC. Before that agreement, Fusion GPSâ(TM)s research into Trump was funded by an unknown Republican client during the GOP primary.

    That an anonymous GOP donor funded research in the primary does nothing to change the fact that Hillary did as well, and did what she accused Trump of doing: conspiring with foreign interests to influence an election in the United States.

  61. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    No, it didn't.

    Yeah. It was. Copying and pasting since you skipped over it the first time:

    • And that's the most that came out of that little chestnut. Thus the debunking.

    This isn't a hard subject. No one is denying the meeting took place. But that's as far as it went - a meeting. The person wasn't a foreign intelligence agent (as opposed to Steele), no actionable information was given (as opposed to Steele) and no money changed hands (as opposed to Steele).

    You see how I linked a story from a reputable news source?

    Lulz. NYTimes reputable? They're a printing press for neocon propaganda:

    • A highly touted story yesterday from the New York Times - claiming that Russians used Twitter more widely known than before to manipulate U.S. politics - demonstrates this recklessness. The story is based on the claims of a new group formed just two months ago by a union of neocons and Democratic national security officials, led by long-time liars and propagandists such as Bill Kristol, former acting CIA chief Mike Morell, and Bush Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff. I reported on the founding of this group, calling itself the Alliance for Securing Democracy, when it was unveiled (this is not to be confused with the latest new Russia group unveiled last week by Rob Reiner and David Frum and featuring a different former national security state official (former DNI James Clapper) - calling itself InvestigateRussia.org - featuring a video declaring that the U.S. is now "at war with Russia").

    A little Occam's Razor might benefit you here.

    You first, Slick.

    Curious. Why is there no investigation? Why can't the sitting president, with a majority congress get an investigation into this obvious crime by Hilary? Why is there instead an investigation into Trump et. al?

    Because neocons don't investigate other neocons. Also, Google "Kabuki theater". Any more is-water-wet questions, or are we done here?

  62. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    How long are you going to continue making up this shit about Putin attacking Ukraine

    How long are you going to continue making shit up about Putin attacking Ukraine? Years of neocon blather and not one photo from a drone or spy satellite, only pictures posted to social media by your literal neo-Nazi pals.

    But even if Putin outright invaded Ukraine, it would only be a million times more justified than any U.S. "intervention" you could name, given the fact that the U.S. overthrew the elected government. It's not like the U.S. would just sit with its thumb up its ass if Russia overthrew the elected government of Mexico and immediately moved to expand the Warsaw Pact to America's border.

    perhaps, check the Wikipedia page about the conflict.

    The facts are indisputable. It's a fact that the United States spent billions to subvert Ukraine's democracy - the assistant Secretary of State is on video - right in front of a big Chevron banner - bragging about it. It's a fact that snipers and junta security officials have confessed to being behind the the attacks on protestors and police. It's a fact that the vote to impeach Yankovich was unconstitutional as it lacked the necessary votes. It's a fact that the United States swooped in and recognized the junta as "legitimate" and immediately gave it money and weapons.

  63. Re:PROTIP: The entire world is close to a US embar by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    whatadumbfuck whatadumbfuck whatadumbfuck whatadumbfuck

    Clean that beam outta your eye before whining about the mote in the other guy's.

  64. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    There's plenty of evidence, it's existence just isn't being covered by the news outlets you read.

    Birthers said the same thing about Obama being born in Kenya. They had just as much evidence for their claims as do you neo-McCarthyites that Russia had anything to do with anything.

  65. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by is+as+us+Infinite · · Score: 1

    The funny thing is that you think its an outlandish claim and that his post is just 'disagreeing'.

    --
    Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur. . . . . . . .
  66. Re:I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" her by ArylAkamov · · Score: 1

    What evidence do you have that a dying tech website is a major target of Russia ops?

  67. Re: If you rely on algorithms to define "fake news by farble1670 · · Score: 1

    Oh noes me grammar not well? You reveal yourself by your inability to do much other than hurl insults. Mark of a pure troll.

    Consider yourself disregarded and irrelevant.

  68. Re: I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" he by farble1670 · · Score: 1

    No links. No data. Another rambling troll post.

    Consider yourself disregarded and irrelevant. Keep posting though after all it's your job.

  69. Re: I'm getting tired of the "Russia narrative" he by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    No links. No data. Another rambling troll post.

    Other than the link to an Intercept piece showing that the source of your link is a propaganda rag. See, this is why you never go Full Russiaphobe - it makes you say stupid shit.

    Consider yourself disregarded and irrelevant. Keep posting though after all it's your job.

    Uh huh. Do let us know when you have more evidence than the Birthers, Chem Trailers and Anti-vaxxers have for their bullshit theories.

    Eh.

    Vi.

    Dense.

  70. Re:PROTIP: The entire world is close to a US embar by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    You're*

    Nope. If you can't get remedial current events right, you could at least go for knowing your grammar when it comes to possessives.

    Also you're obviously FSB.

    Yeah, and I'm sure you accused anyone of questioning the Iraq war as being a Saddam sympathizer. You're (note the correct usage) as full of shit now as you were in 2003.