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Russian Trolls Tried -- and Failed -- To Push Divisive Content On Vaccines (fortune.com)
Russian trolls "seem to be using vaccination as a wedge issue, promoting discord in American society," according to a new study shared by long-time Slashdot reader skam240.
"The topic became another issue the Russian trolls seized upon to widen existing rifts in America and turn citizens against each other," reports NBC News.
But Fortune reports there's more to the story: While the latest study highlights how Russian outfits have increasingly used social media to toy with people's emotions to influence their behavior, it's also notable for the fact that most Twitter users appeared to have ignored its anti-vaccine messages... Outside of the Russian trolls, virtually no real Twitter users actually responded to the messages, said the paper's author David Broniatowski, an assistant professor in at George Washington University's School of Engineering and Applied Science. Generally, Russian trolls try to exploit controversial topics like religion, and race and class division, but "sometimes they get it hilariously wrong," he said.
Broniatowski attributed the campaign's failure to the content of the tweets, which included: "VaccinateUS mandatory #vaccines infringe on constitutionally protected religious freedoms;" "Did you know there was a secret government database of #vaccine-damaged children? #VaccinateUS;" and "Dont get #vaccines. Iluminati are behind it. #VaccinateUS." The messages were so far-fetched that even people who believe in conspiracy theories chose to ignore them.
But Fortune reports there's more to the story: While the latest study highlights how Russian outfits have increasingly used social media to toy with people's emotions to influence their behavior, it's also notable for the fact that most Twitter users appeared to have ignored its anti-vaccine messages... Outside of the Russian trolls, virtually no real Twitter users actually responded to the messages, said the paper's author David Broniatowski, an assistant professor in at George Washington University's School of Engineering and Applied Science. Generally, Russian trolls try to exploit controversial topics like religion, and race and class division, but "sometimes they get it hilariously wrong," he said.
Broniatowski attributed the campaign's failure to the content of the tweets, which included: "VaccinateUS mandatory #vaccines infringe on constitutionally protected religious freedoms;" "Did you know there was a secret government database of #vaccine-damaged children? #VaccinateUS;" and "Dont get #vaccines. Iluminati are behind it. #VaccinateUS." The messages were so far-fetched that even people who believe in conspiracy theories chose to ignore them.
...why did they remove the mercury from them after people started noticing and complaining? Comrade, think about it.
The main reason people were against vaccinations were not the vaccines themeselves, but rather the mercury compound thiomersal that was used as a preservative in them. The mercury exposure was claimed to cause autism in children. There were supposedly a bunch of scientific studies disproving this, but thiomersal was nevertheless eliminated from vaccines administered to children. It is still used in other vaccines that you might be getting as an adult. Yeah, Big Pharma says it is perfectly safe, but just go to its wikipedia article, read the toxicology section, and then decide for yourself whether this is something you want to be injected in your kids. In any case, I think you should definitely be aware of the issue and that it is wholly inappropriate to dismiss this issue as "denialism" by some "ignorant hicks".
or Donald Trump ? He even states it more plainly than this.
It is clear that our commander-in-chief believes that vaccines causes autism. Despite any evidence. So I don't really worry too much about what some Russian bots are saying when we have real Americans spreading stupid theories.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
There's currently a measle outbreak in a dozen states because so many idiots think vaccines will kill their child.
Once again, the Russians are running circles around us.
(and hello to all the Brave Comrades reading Slashdot here! I hope you get an extra ration of vodka today.)
hookers and grits.
"Outside of the Russian trolls, virtually no real Twitter users actually responded to the messages"
An obvious response comes to mind.
Why not pick a political agenda (such as vaccination) and engineer a bot army that argues for the correct position?
Specifically in this case, why doesn't a group of 40-or-so people get together and agree to play the analogous "troll" position, build a couple of hundred bots, and sow complacency and agreement (instead of divisiveness)?
It sounds like bot trolling is an effective and disruptive way to sway many things - an election, regime satisfaction, and scientific belief.
Why doesn't someone use that technique for the purposes of good?
TFA>_ Russian outfits have increasingly used social media to toy with people's emotions to influence their behavior
They're not toying with people's emotions, they find cracks in American classes (arising from poor education in the first place) and use them to place wedges (inflammatory comments) and divide the country even further.
That is not very sophisticated from them and the guilt is partly upon the Americans themselves for failing to provide decent affordable education. It's funny how people from a failed ideology (socialism/communism) can still exploit flaws in capitalism.
Their methods are the classical FUD, applied to vaccination, Democrats (supposedly) ulterior motives, technology (space exploration/round world), etc etc
Only the stupid fall for it, but the problem is that success in America is measured by affluence, not by intellectual prowess. Given enough stupid voters one could even promote a stupid President and make him victorious.
People have a tendency of being proud of what they do even if it's dumb. Some Windows users are proud of not understanding computers -- imagine that!
I know people who are anti-vaxxers who are not stupid or uneducated. What they are is emotionally overwrought. In the architecture of the human brain, emotions have absolute priority over reason, so once you give your feelings a free rein they can lead you anywhere.
We call these particular people pushing the anti-vaxx bullshit "Russian trolls" because of the tools they happen to use, but if you look at what they're actually *doing*, it'd be more accurate to call them "Russian propagandists". And propagandists know all about the power of inciting passion, both positive and negative.
The Russian government has taken the measure of our society, and they obviously believe they have found a weakness. Freedom of communication and association. If their propagandists can encourage people to associate based on violent and paranoid passions, they can weaken us. It's psychological warfare, and that's not just a metaphor. In this case there will be casualties.
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the one thing I find the conspiracy theorists have in common seems to be a shared community. It doesn't matter how weird or nutty you are, if you believe then you're one of us and we'll put up with all your crazy shit. I see the same behavior in a lot of hobbies. Pipe clubs come to mind. I see the pattern a lot with Table top RPG players too. More controversially I see it with religions and gun lovers.
If anyone's wondering why so many folks believe this kind of clap-trap that's why. It lets people who are a little off (or more than a little off) come together and forget their differences.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
My second youngest almost died as a new infant from a disease that almost everyone is immunized against, or should be, because someone like you convinced enough parents not to vaccinate their kids that my son was able to get it before he was old enough to be vaccinated himself.
Communicating to encourage suicide is a crime. Communicating to encourage wacko vaccine theories should be too.
....whilst all cybersecurity experts laugh at the 'evidence' for what it is - garbage.
If you're gonna troll, you need to learn the English language gooder. It embiggens the effectiveness of your message.
And here I was thinking it was due to utter cluelessness in our own society. But noooo, all those idiots anti-vaccers, through no fault of their own, were just misled by zee eevil Russians!
Given their total mind control and inevitable world conquest, I think the only thing left for us defenseless sheeple is to just join the wave of the future and learn Russian. I mean, I have _some_ defense against them in the form of an adblocker, but how long can I hold out when they control my every move? Hell, even this very message is just more evidence of their all-powerful control. I don't actually want to write it, but my masters in the Kremlin have manipulated me so I have no other choice.
Pay no attention to the media behind the curtain.
107 cases across the whole U.S., vs over 40k in Europe.
I wonder where the Russians have really been targeting - and succeeding.
The U.S. has long been much more immune to ideological persuasion than elsewhere.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Libs want us to inject who knows what into our bodies and hurt our kids for unproven "vaccine" when it is proven kids do just as well without them and are safe from the autism. I bet this whole story is just more fake stuff from lamestream media, but even if it were true I'd thank the Russias for at least trying to help us see light instead of endless lies and bullshit of liberal SJW politics maskerading as "science".
Due to moronic Westerners getting there first
We call these particular people pushing the anti-vaxx bullshit "Russian trolls" because of the tools they happen to use, but if you look at what they're actually *doing*, it'd be more accurate to call them "Russian propagandists".
I've been arguing for months that we should be calling them "Russian spies". To call them "trolls" implies that they're just being a bit pesky, and it's all in good fun. I agree that "propagandists" is more accurate, but it doesn't capture the fact that it's a foreign government doing this out of malicious intent, and for their own strategic advantage. They're spies, and they're doing a good job infiltrating our telecommunications and public discourse.
it's also notable for the fact that most Twitter users appeared to have ignored its anti-vaccine messages.
But ... Russians! It's not possible to simply ignore their messages, is it??
I thought they had secret mind control powers on social media!
It's amazing how Americans hide behind their constitution to justify all sorts of egregious things.
It's also amazing how ignorant about it that Americans are. So, here, let me educate you on your own constitution. The right to "free speech" as you call it, has limits. It's "free" so long as it remains in the boundaries of that is generally called "protected speech". It's been hashed out in case law for a long time, and is still being hashed out, and what is or isn't is more complex than can be explained here, but generally courts find that your right to free speech ends when it impinges on the rights of someone else or on the public good. This goes to the right to free anything. None of the rights are absolute, and this is a very good thing. Speech enjoys more protection than other rights, simply because it is not an inherently invasive action. However there are many cases where speech is restricted, and on a daily basic. You can't knowingly lie about someone publicly, or damage their reputation or impune them, because that's slander/libel. That's a civil law restriction on free speech. There are also criminal ones. My earlier example about how communicating for the purpose of encouraging someone to commit suicide is a crime, that is an example. Another one is communicating secrets to foreign entities, which can be treason. So, what you said, is demonstrably false. Banning people's speech because it is disliked it is absolutely not against the founding principles of your country, as long as the speech that is disliked is not protected speech.
So the real question is, is communicating false assertions about vaccines, is that protected speech. I have no doubt some people actually believe it the stories about vaccines, despite how provable false they are. But then again, there is such a thing as criminal stupidity. Where simply believing it because some rabid conspiracy nut said it isn't enough to protect you from basic fact checking before spreading it around like a canker on society. Because of the public endangerment involved, I think there is a good case to be made that it's not protected speech. It would be interesting to test in court. I suspect that anyone trying to argue that spreading nutball conspiracy theories about vaccines to the point that it is a danger to public health is protected speech would have an uphill battle justifying it in court. Where, presumably, the light of reason is supposed to prevail. Even in the US.
Your response is not actually a response to what he said. Yes, there are forms of speech which are illegal. No, that's not sufficient justification for banning people from communicating their personal views, even if those views are contradicted by science and could potentially cause some harm. The US specifically prohibits very few forms of speech at the criminal level, and for good reason; the moment you start down the path of defining which ideas should be illegal you swing wide the doors for others to criminalize your ideas as well. This is how tyranny begins.
She is even more stupid than you think: https://www.androidpolice.com/...
The precisely correct term for what you're talking about is "provocateur".
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In the architecture of the human brain, emotions have absolute priority over reason
Maybe for YOU.
We're on to you fucking Russian sonsofbitches, fuck off back to your shitty dictatorship and tell Putin you failed.
Of course if it weren't for so-called 'social media' then none of this would happen. Dump Facebook, dump Twitter, dump all of it. Go back to actually being social with actual people so you know who the hell you're talking to.
Well... If you want to get all technical and debate it, the term "provocateur" is sometimes used to describe people who are somewhat innocuous. For example, I've heard people say that Kanye West is a provocateur, in the sense that he does provocative things. Then there's the term "agent provocateur", which would be somewhat apt, but arguably describes a subset of "spies".
That is, the term "spy" is sometimes used generally to indicate anyone involved in intelligence, espionage, or some kind of adversarial covert action. Acting as an agent provocateur, falling under that umbrella of covert action, would classify you as an example of spycraft, i.e. all agent provocateurs are spies, but not all spies are agent provocateurs.
On the other hand, I could see an argument that calling someone a "spy" implies that their primary goal is "to spy", in the sense of covertly gathering information. The primary goal of these "Russian trolls" isn't to gather information, but to spread misinformation and influence political groups. I can see that argument, but I don't find it convincing. The Russian government had trained agents infiltrate American society in order to gather information, spread misinformation, and engage in a covert influence campaign. I think if you surveyed English people to ask what the name for such a person is, I think most would say "spy". The fact that their infiltration took place online shouldn't change that.
We should hire the conspiracy theorists to search for foreign subversive activities.
What thousands of kids are you referring to? The ones who are getting thrice the amount of inoculations in their first days as you did as a child? There is substance to that part of the argument as well as the one for children who have a family history of autoimmune disorders. I have one friend who was paralyzed from a flu shot. Her mother and aunts had fibromyalgia.
And the Russian Troll has arrived!
Do you8 for a moment think anyone pays attention to you festering azssholes any more? Aside from the Lulz of course.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Stop feeding the Russian troll
We shall give them salt and bread, tovarish.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Dude, look out - there's a Russian hiding under your bed!
Are you *really* so ignorant as to believe *everyone* who is against forced-vax is a Russian bot? Greens, hippies, small-c conservatives, libertarians, intellectuals, anarchists, and some religious faithful are all natural opponents of authoritarian quackery.
When your scream your appeal to your ersatz religion - "but but but muh SCIENCE(tm)!!!!!!!!!11!!!1!!!" - only credulous middle-brow bumpkins are moved. Anyone with real understanding of science, statistics, and/or history can see you are disingenuously sweeping risks under the table, while exaggerating the benefits of widespread coerced compliance.
Communicating to encourage suicide is a crime. Communicating to encourage wacko vaccine theories should be too.
There should be a anti-vaxxer register. There's one for sex offenders, why not anti-vaxxers since they also pose a grave threat to the community.
An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
Everyone who disagrees with me is emotionally unbalanced!!
Screaming is bad for your throat.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Why are you dragging Andy Kaufman into this? /s
Would were! Should is! Could be! And live a hundred times three.
Dude, look out - there's a Russian hiding under your bed!
One in my bed too.
Are you *really* so ignorant as to believe *everyone* who is against forced-vax is a Russian bot?
Now where did you get the idea I thought that? What I do think is that anyone who is against vaxxing is a huge pile of shit that should be separated from society along with their disease carrying children so that you don't inflict your diseases on the rest of us.
Pay attention to the story here, it is about how Russian trolls have used anti-vaxxing to sow discontent.
Greens, hippies, small-c conservatives, libertarians, intellectuals, anarchists, and some religious faithful are all natural opponents of authoritarian quackery.
Make no mistake, I do not have a fuck to give about you living or not living. But purposely using your children as a disease vector sways my opinion that if your decision to force your children to be a disease vector, that any child or adult that is killed by your irresponsibility will cause you to be convicted of first class murder and punished according to the capital crime statutes of your country. You have your convictions, so you cannot disagree without displaying sociopathy.
Those children you are responsible for killing didn't get the chance to make any decision.
Have you considered refusing to use any medication at all? Any and all medication has side effects, some times fatal. You logic would insist that you not take any corrective action. People die some times during or after surgery, you must avoid any and all medicaments and surgical procedures.
But of course you don't. You have based your acceptance of possibly killing your children and other people on the "research of a man who was found to have been working in concert with a lawyer to take advantage of sympathies of juries to unfortunate families and make a real payday of the manipulation.
You have further based your anti-vaccine fantasy on the work of a woman who's qualifications for vaccine research consists of exposing her breasts, vagina, buttocks and anus to photographers to make erotic/pornographic images used as a masturbatory aid for mostly men. No judgement here on what she has done, just that it doesn't qualify you for anything else than doing porn shoots, maybe a little celebrity promotion.
When your scream your appeal to your ersatz religion - "but but but muh SCIENCE(tm)!!!!!!!!!11!!!1!!!" - only credulous middle-brow bumpkins are moved.
Now there is a paragraph! You have many imaginary arguments with people? The cool part of that is you always win with those. Not so often in real life
Anyone with real understanding of science, statistics, and/or history can see you are disingenuously sweeping risks under the table, while exaggerating the benefits of widespread coerced compliance.
Hello? You are now challenged to present your evidence that science, statistics and history show that vaccinations kill more children than avoiding vaccinations. We take a risk every time that we take a medicament. We take a risk every time we don't take one. There is a very good reason that vaccine research was undertaken. Dead and paralyzed children.
Looking forward to your dissertation, all of the research I've seen shows that vaccines have saved millions from death, paralysis, and disfigurement.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Can they at least have sugar and bread so they can make alcohol? O.o you know they die without it.
Can they at least have sugar and bread so they can make alcohol? O.o you know they die without it.
This is good, allow them their drink.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
You're definitely not sowing discontent, Boris. No sir.
And you don't seem the least bit unhinged. You're certainly not talking like a wingnut religious fundamentalist, that's for sure!
I have no hinges to un!
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
It obvious you are a propagandizing fascist who wants to decide what others can say. You are dangerous.
No one on this shit heap site is dangerous.
Seriously though, you're not aware of limits on free speech, and you haven't heard of protected speech? Why are you engaging in this argument if you're so ignorant on the facts?
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.