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Trolls Are Still Actively Trying to Influence Brexit and US Elections (go.com)
TechCrunch reports:
A major new campaign of disinformation around Brexit, designed to stir up U.K. 'Leave' voters, and distributed via Facebook, may have reached over 10 million people in the U.K., according to new research. The source of the campaign is so far unknown, and will be embarrassing to Facebook, which only this week claimed it was clamping down on "dark" political advertising on its platform. Researchers for the U.K.-based digital agency 89up allege that Mainstream Network -- which looks and reads like a "mainstream" news site but which has no contact details or reporter bylines -- is serving hyper-targeted Facebook advertisements aimed at exhorting people in Leave-voting U.K. constituencies to tell their MP to "chuck Chequers." Chequers is the name given to the U.K. Prime Ministers's proposed deal with the EU regarding the U.K.'s departure from the EU next year.
ABC News reports: When the Justice Department unsealed criminal charges detailing a yearslong effort by a Russian troll farm to "sow division and discord in the U.S. political system," it was the first federal case alleging continued foreign interference in U.S. elections. Earlier Friday, American intelligence officials released a rare public statement asserting that Russia, China, Iran and other countries are engaged in ongoing efforts to influence U.S. policy and voters in future elections. The statement didn't provide details on those efforts. That stood in contrast with the criminal charges, which provided a detailed narrative of Russian activities...
The criminal complaint provided a clear picture that there is still a hidden but powerful Russian social media effort aimed at spreading distrust for American political candidates and causing divisions on social issues such as immigration and gun control.... Court papers describe how the operatives in Friday's case would analyze U.S. news articles and decide how they would draft social media messages about those stories. They also show that Russian trolls have stepped up their efforts with a better understanding the U.S. political climate and messages that are no longer riddled with misspellings.
CNN notes that one week before America's 2016 presidential election, "one of the Kremlin-backed accounts denied that Russian meddling, saying: 'Russia's Putin says Moscow not trying to influence U.S. election.'"
ABC News reports: When the Justice Department unsealed criminal charges detailing a yearslong effort by a Russian troll farm to "sow division and discord in the U.S. political system," it was the first federal case alleging continued foreign interference in U.S. elections. Earlier Friday, American intelligence officials released a rare public statement asserting that Russia, China, Iran and other countries are engaged in ongoing efforts to influence U.S. policy and voters in future elections. The statement didn't provide details on those efforts. That stood in contrast with the criminal charges, which provided a detailed narrative of Russian activities...
The criminal complaint provided a clear picture that there is still a hidden but powerful Russian social media effort aimed at spreading distrust for American political candidates and causing divisions on social issues such as immigration and gun control.... Court papers describe how the operatives in Friday's case would analyze U.S. news articles and decide how they would draft social media messages about those stories. They also show that Russian trolls have stepped up their efforts with a better understanding the U.S. political climate and messages that are no longer riddled with misspellings.
CNN notes that one week before America's 2016 presidential election, "one of the Kremlin-backed accounts denied that Russian meddling, saying: 'Russia's Putin says Moscow not trying to influence U.S. election.'"
Everybody I disagree with is a troll.
And then the question becomes, how do you get everyone to believe that everything online is over-rated?
--
Kindness and politeness are not overrated at all. They're underused. -- Tommy Lee Jones
Unfortunately there are a lot of gullible people in the world who just skim the headlines and don't bother to dig down in any detail on an issue. Lazy thinkers will always be with us and all we can hope for is there are enough people who aren't that way in order to counter them. Lately it's kind of depressing how much of this has distorted the political realm.
Last week it was "hackers". Make up your mind.
It's odd that we [the us] do it to them and it's ok, but fuck them if they do the same thing to us. God I hate politics and politicians.
Hell, Obama flew over personally to threaten Britain into voting remain and no one raised a shitfit about America "influencing" a British election.
Hell, Obama flew over personally to threaten Britain into voting remain and no one raised a shitfit about America "influencing" a British election.
To be fair, that's because Britain's our bitch.
Funny how these trolls always affect the side the person writing the article doesn't support, isn't it? I mean, no one would dream of spreading misinformation on the Remain side - they're all saints devoted to the purity of Truth.
I'm sure Russian trolls are feeding out misinformation about all sorts of things. The real issue is whether it has any more effect than the lies politicians tell.
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
Imagine people actually able to see differing points of view. They might just decide they don't like what their betters have planned for them
I remember two years ago, in the poll booth, about to vote for/against Brexit; I was trying to sum up what the campaigns had told me. I came to the conclusion: a mass of emotional froth, little of hard reality upon which to make a decision. All sorts of contradictory predictions; few agreed facts. I remember listening to opposing politicians who could not even agree on, what should have been, basic facts. I came to the conclusion that both sides were lying (or at least greatly playing up their arguments), many others did also. The main agreement was that 'the other side are not being truthful' -- both sides said that!
Two years later: it is not hugely better. The problems that Brexit may bring have now been revealed & are being shouted loud but no one can say what will happen on 29 March 2019 (Brexit day), partly because exaggeration of dire consequence is a tool of political negotiation. The promised sunny uplands of EU-restriction free international trade are also being promised, but are nebulous.
Debate amongst politicians is at a level that would bring discredit to a bunch of squabbling 4 year olds at infant school.
I have not posted for a few years but this one really has annoyed me enough to say something regarding these Brexit ads.
For a start there are no new elections or referendums so it's hardly trying to influence a vote, the Guardian (left wing) newspaper would love to have a second referendum and reverse the vote and is most likely why they have flagged this up.
I can see how not knowing who is paying for these ads may be a problem for some, but like I said there is no public vote coming up and therefore as far as a I know campaign financing rules do apply, besides I did not see the Guardian kick up a fuss when Soros donated £400,000 to reverse Brexit.
Finally a large chunk of Conservative (the governing party) MPs themselves have said the same thing that this advert is saying so how is this fake news?
If there was any semblance that there was democracy in the UK, it has pretty much has been laid to rest.
While this sort of thing is typically frowned upon -- you both are being a bit silly, in that you're missing the point.
That was an *open*, and *plainly visible* thing. That is not even remotely the same as people pretending to be real users, genuine citizens, and instead being paid for foreigners, pretending to belong to the country they are trying to destroy.
If Trump, Putin, anyone tries to OPENLY say "Vote this way!", that has no bearing on this conversation, on this topic. It is instead, the goal of secretly funding, and secretly trying to destroy a foreign power via trickery that is the problem. A problem, that really only democracies are vulnerable to, for in a fascist state (like Russia, or China), if you dissent? You're in trouble period.
Where as the citizens of a democracy? Have the RIGHT to complain...
Meanwhile, we have sneaks, spies, paid for people FAKING belonging to the citizenry of democratic nations. That's a very, very dangerous thing to do to a democracy.
Read the actual statement, nothing about "unity" on "gun control" or "immigration", that's added by selective ABC quoting:
From the statement:
"We are concerned about ongoing campaigns by Russia, China and other foreign actors, including Iran, to undermine confidence in democratic institutions and influence public sentiment and government policies"
Kavanaugh ruled in 2012 that it is OK for foreign governments to buy influence in elections, as long as they don't try to get individual politicians elected. The UAE alone spent $600 million, via a GOP fundraiser called Elliot Broidy (Google him), according to Kavanaughs decision that would be legal. I disagree. It *should* be *illegal* for the flow of vast amounts of PAC money to buy influence, and politicians seeking foreign help in winning elections.
Citizens united was a disaster, and foreign owned Delaware corps it created, is the inevitable result.
You should *not* be visiting Moscow or Riyadh seeking help in the USA elections, you should be visiting your constituency.
"...disseminating foreign propaganda."
Is it true? Or is it fake?
Did those 15 Saudi military officers, *accidentally* choke the Washington Post journalist as he fist-fought them, or did they they go to the embassy, equipped with bone saws, and a torture doctor, and dismember him while he was alive. Because my Occams Razor says if you take a bone saw to an embassy, you plan on dissecting someone, and if you have a doctor there, you plan on keeping him alive as you do it. Whereas if he died accidentally during a choke hold, you don't cut up the body, smuggle it out of the embassy and hide it. Yet this is the story Trump believes. One side it propaganda. One side is a lie.
Just to be sure, I'd like them to find the body parts, and I'd like the release of the evidence the Turkish say they have. The Turkish story has not changed, and if it was false, the Saudi's would know they didn't have the evidence they claimed and wouldn't admit it. The Saudi story has changed and they have admitted it, so I know that the Turkish claim is true and the Saudi one false. See? Occams Razor.
The logic is right there in the previous paragraphs for you to check or disagree with.
"causing divisions on social issues such as immigration and gun control"
This is added spin by selective quoting of ABC. I'll bite.
I'm still waiting for that vast army of immigrants heading for the border that only a wall can stop. Did they arrive yet? No? There's majority on immigration, nobody of either party is funding the wall. Neither party wants kids taken from parents, stuck in army camps, and forced to sign waivers of their legal rights. So how is there division? Where exactly is the split? Between Trump+Hannity vs the people + rest of the executive+ judicial + legislative branches. That's amazing unity!
80% want gun control, that's unity. NRA doesn't, gets Russian funding from a fake pro-gun lobby, that's not-unity. There is unity, but there isn't action.
You didn't mention healthcare? Can grandma get cancer treatment? Yes she can, that's unity, the repeal vote failed, even Republicans won't vote to cancel it. So why is it being defunded, when there's so much unity?
Mitch McConnell got booed out of a restaurant yesterday. How dare they! Mitch McConnell won't schedule votes if he doesn't want the legislation, even if the majrity of the Senate wants it. Do you think perhaps the undermining of the democracy has something to do with them not voicing their concerns via the democracy?
end rant.
I remember, the the poll booth 2 years ago, trying sum up what I had learned from what the politicians has said over the preceding weeks. I remembered a huge amount of emotional froth but little by way of solid detail or summary of what would happen. I had listened to debates between politicians who could not even agree on basic contemporary facts - that should have not been hard to ascertain. The misinformation was more than political spin: it was outright lies. I am not the only one of that opinion.
The only agreement between the sides was 'the other side is lying'.
Now, two years later, things are not much better. We have been told of all sorts of horrible things that will happen after 29 March 2019 (Brexit day) but are well aware that these are being played up. Both sides have too much to lose if the hard lines being talked about come to be. Exaggeration of consequences and declarations of impossibility seem to be the way that political negotiations are done. The bright sunny post Brexit uplands, that we are assured (by the Brexiteers) will come to be, are equally nebulous.
What passes as debate between politicians would bring discredit to a bunch of squabbling 4 year olds at infant school.
How many russian trolls are active at all? I've heard numbers in the double and tripple digits.
But the Pentagon employs at least 27,000 people for PR purposes. Some of them certainly do advertisement and recruitment, but a lot of them are active on social media and to influence journalists, all to make sure the US military appears in the right light. Budget 2009: 4.7 billion
That begs the question who to trust at all. Certainly the mainstream media image of US politics is no more trustworthy than any troll posting or any fringe lunatic conspiracy theorists - just influenced by different motives and money.
In the end, it is all a show anyways. It just became even less clear who the performers are.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
China, Russia and Iran could hire teams of people to write news articles with bylines and promote them overtly, that's fine. China Daily, RT, Tehran times, are good examples.
Trolls aren't concerned with even writing news articles, not even slanted, biased news articles, the truth is immaterial to their objective, and certain truths run contrary to their objective. The trolls themselves pretend to be somebody else to disrupt conversations, recruit followers and expand their influence. They focus not on informing people, but on polarization and division. They're paid to do this, for this purpose.
https://tinyurl.com/y9dby46f
no. She did NOT win the election. There is no 'prole' or population election. The ONLY election that matters is Electoral College election.
HOWEVER, there are multiple issues with our Electoral College. In particular, we are supposed to have equal representation, and that is not the case. As such, it is going to SCOTUS.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Just came here to watch in amazement as Slashdot turns into a Fox news / US government propaganda arm. Dear Americans: The Russians did not influence your elections, the Chinese did not mass- bug your servers, nir are they trying to control your elections now. The Israel Lobby on the other hand is BALLS DEEP in all levels of of your state apparatus and military industrial complex! But not a sibgle mention if them will appear in a Slashdot article. Not kosher...
They stood inline and got to vote.
The votes got counted.
The government then had take on what was voted for and that was passed.
Citizens all over the UK voted to get their laws back from the EU and to fully enjoy been normal nation of laws again.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
The whole basis of a democracy is the winner gets more votes than the loser. When that doesn't happen, it undermines the democracy.
She won, she has the democratic legitimacy. Saying the only system that matters is the corrupted version, is you defending the corrupted version.
The basis of the Senate is they vote on bills and if there is a majority the bill passes. When Mitch McConnell refuses to schedule votes on bill to block the vote, again that undermines the democracy. Again, why should the majority of Senators follow Mitch McConnell when Mitch McConnell uses procedure to undermine democracy.
Mitch wouldn't allow a vote on Obama's SCOTUS candidate, Merrick Garland. So SCOTUS authority is undermined. Do you think people should accept Kavanaugh's vote, on SCOTUS quietly, when Senate wasn't permitted to vote on Merrick Garland? Why?
Selective legitimacy is the problem here.
It's not OK to rig a democracy, just because your rigging is successful.
Clinton won, Trump lost. The people made the right choice. Mitch McConnell did not.
however proper funny they think they can influence us rather than trigger the general nerdy binary response of walking away or blowing holes in their nonesense.
Hell, Obama flew over personally to threaten Britain into voting remain and no one raised a shitfit about America "influencing" a British election.
More a statement of fact - the UK will be a much lower priority than doing a deal with the EU as it is a much smaller market. However, the UK will be relatively powerless in negotiations with the USA, so will likely have to accept lower standards on food and healthcare.
You've got more trolls inside your country than overseas by a magnitude of 1000x. The fact is that when it comes to acknowledge the imperfection of your country, americans have a mental blockade and quickly blame on anyone else. Many american presidents have lied, yet, some troll in Teheran is able to silently take away your vote from hillary to trump, even when all the media is mocking Trump and his voters, and Obama is publicly telling USA electrions can not be rigged. Do your search.
Npcs complaining about alleged bots. Could it get any more meta?
Jesus Slashdot.
Another item as MSM Propoganda.
Russia hasn't meddled in the American elections, and if it has, its somewhat down the line behind MSM, Oligarchs, Israel and the UK.
America does mess in everyone else's elections...FACT, so who gives a toss?
Lastly Brexit, inciting Brexiteers and not Remoaners.....your having a laugh aint ya?
You'll someday explain CAUSE and EFFECT when you finally get around to showing election meddling.
This is YET ANOTHER PIECE OF MSM PROPAGANDA THAT SHOULDN'T BE ON SLASHDOT.
Show some class, Slashdot. Don't just be another mouthpiece.
WaPo, LAT, NBC, MSNBC, ...
The "deplorables" and "bitter clingers" can't be allowed to win elections.
It's like I said in my comment on gullible people above. Some people are just seeking confirmation for their biases and just skim the headlines without digging down to get closer to the truth. It doesn't matter what the source is (foreign or domestic, etc.). But if you develop the habit of looking deeper you eventually develop a better sense of when you're being scammed and perhaps you are able to find some trusted sources who generally a straight shooters about the things they say. I just takes a bit of work, more than some are willing to put in.
And when the EU is broken up everybody can learn to play nicely.
We'll have to see, though, if Germany is capable of that.
Which is worse? The Russian trolls or the fact that people believe them? I think that people believe them is worse because no one does any independent thinking or research anymore. They take what is spoon fed to them as boiler plate. The fact that Russian trolls have been able to influence US elections is an indictment on the US educational system or lack thereof.
Just look at AIPAC. They don't care about protecting the U.S. They care about protecting Israel. The U.S. is secondary in their overall aims.
Israel is far more vulnerable than the US. The organization is formed around the principles of defending Israel. You're accusing a brown rabbit of having brown fur.
Maskirovka is creating division in your opponents by creating uncertainty, it's intent is to disrupt, to disbelieve everything, flat out lies and even present truths as lies.
This is well worth watching
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
There is a bit of American exceptionalism at play.
The word "xenophobia" apparently means one thing to you, and something else entirely to, well, everyone else on the planet.
The point is not foreigners, nor is it foreigners expressing their opinions on American issues. The point is foreigners pretending to be Americans, or citizens of any country whose American election-related activities are financed or otherwise backed by foreigners.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Relax. Nobody's trying to stop you from reading RT.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
In the US, you can run against the incumbent and very likely not get shot.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
A 6-digit ID means he's been around since 2000 or so, well before any of the current nonsense began.
When did you say that you registered your account...?
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Came here to say this. I see "troll" used almost exclusively to silence debate and shut-up those you disagree with without having to make an argument against what they have to say. So, for me, "Troll" means, people who will eventually band together and start putting people in holes because they are being systematically silenced.
I laid out the very unpopular case before (on Slashdot) that trolls have zero effect. Look around Twitter, what kind of arguments could anyone possibly insert that would inflame people more than they are already inflamed?
Furthermore, I don't think trolls from other countries have the depth of understanding about where the buttons are to press to be nearly as effective as the actual people arguing in those countries. They can put up some generic arguments or whatever, but they cannot go for the really deep cuts that make people truly angry.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What difference does it make if some particular bit of bullshit propaganda comes from Russia or Enron or the CIA or the DNC/RNC or whoever? The message is what's important, not the messenger. You say they want to "destabilize" the system? Well so do I. That's why I voted for Trump, because the system fucking sucks. And now that they're out of power, the left wants to destabilize things too. After exhausting every lega possibility for removing Trump they've resorted to open violence and calls for dismantling the government itself. Did Russia get us to that place, or did CNN and the Kochs/Soros and all the other rich, american sociopaths behind 99.999% of the political so-called information people are exposed to?
You're holding up the trivial fact that someone lied about their country of origin in the standard course of lying about a hundred other things to push a political agenda as the big, bright dividing line. The nationality of the person who created a meme or article or whatever else is the absolute last part of the equation I give a fuck about. If some Russians in a basement somewhere on a shoestring budget can out-persuade billions of dollars worth of the best professional advertising people America has to offer, then more power to them. If that's the case, maybe they deserve to run the world after all.
Or maybe you're just desperate for a scapegoat to explain away your failure and are far, far less immune to paranoid bigotry than you like to think.
Why is foreigner money used deceptively different substantially different than American money used deceptively?
Domestic oligarchs are no less of a threat to our democracy, and that's where you get the real resistance, because it's a distinction without a difference.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
You have to keep pro-Brexit Facebook ads in perspective:
This level of gaming the system clearly dwarfs a few Facebook ads
perl -e 'fork||print for split//,"hahahaha"'
The trolling wouldn't work.
Kill Apple. Microsoft is already hobbled, plus the whole Microsoft leviathan was created by Apple's litigious adventures in the 80s - early 90s that ran gui competitors out of business. Killing all the lawyers would be an overreach. Killing all the Apple lawyers would be therapeutic.
This is all part of an overall strategy to destabilize NATO, with the ultimate goal being to weaken or completely destroy it, because NATO stands in the way of Putin building Soviet Union 2.0.
"The wrong side" won, and all the smartest people in the room will never get over it.
Plus, their globalist masters have immense wealth to support the hue and cry.
a meaningful discussion on the Internet practically impossible. They not only promote an opinion, but pose themselves as idiotic or over-aggressive opponents too.
I think an international UN anti-trolling agreement, or at least a declaration, could be beneficial for the whole planet.
The Internet plays into the swarm mentality that humans have. It's just that that swarm mentality is more exposed than ever now. People just go with whatever they are brainfed and are less diverse than they think. Let's look at some of the math:. Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Republican, Democrat, BBC and A small number of popular news agencies That's a very small number of sources that humans are swarming towards. Yes there are alternatives out there.... But they ellipse the competition. Who uses the alternatives? We've let a small number of groups take over how we get information and how we shop.
In these United States, each state is to get equal representation. If you want your individual vote to 'count more' you should move to another state. You'll find that in general your vote will count for more in additional ways after the move. So shut up or move.
Social media was supposed to be a game wherein the pieces were real people, not actors.
Now, state actors are acting like real people.
Those who have their goddam heads covered with the plastic bag of Facebook are huffing the fucking propaganda.
How long does it take for all concerned to appreciate that Facebook is not a news SOURCE?
It's easy as hell to click one tab thataway ===> to get to actual news sites.
An example is the comment section of /. We learned long ago to avoid stepping on the bullshit.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
That is not very nice calling people Trolls....call them by their real name. Socialists, Communists, Progressives, Liberals, The Left, Anti-fa, Facists, totalitarians, Democratic Socialists.
If none work for you try "Douche Canoes"
Hillary and Obama were clearly in favor of that coup. They had hopes after a Hillary victory for a similar coup in Syria.
The US people right now are so lucky to not be bogged down in a land war in Syria. We've really been missed by that bullet.
It's certainly less harmonious.
But you can always just stay in your room. Twist the key on your music box.
Hell, Obama flew over personally to threaten Britain into voting remain and no one raised a shitfit about America "influencing" a British election.
He went over as himself and argued for his ideas. This is different. Russian posing as a Brit is different than the American President coming over as the American President. Obama making his pitch is him trying to win an argument. These Russion propogandists don't care about any side of the argument, they're trying to create division and sow misinformation. Is it really that hard to see the difference?
The West didn't do shit. The people took to the streets after their soon-to-be-former president tried to go back on a key promise on which he'd been elected, and the country's legally-elected parliament voted legally and unanimously to kick him out. The fact that he spirited away a goodly portion of the country's treasury didn't go down well with a lot of folks, either.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Get over the loss and start actually presenting the people with sensible solutions.
Here's one: Don't shoot yourselves in the foot by exiling yourselves from Europe and rolling over for Putin.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
If and when it's power is scaled back, the EU will do a good job of that, too.
It should be a meeting place for the elected governments of European Countries to confer. Not a place for bureaucrats from the various European countries to conspire against their electorate.
The sad but undeniable fact is that political trolls are here to stay, on every platform and for every agenda.
Influencing elections has been going on since forever, but now it's easier and much more economical to do, plus the scope/scale of the effects are vastly greater. It used to be impossible to reach 50 million people with a given message, but now with Facebook and Twitter and all the other social media platforms, it's both practical and cheap.
They saw how blissfully easy it was to disrupt the 2016 elections and truth be told, they got a lot of bang for their buck. There are a lot of Americans who are eager to follow anyone and anything that reinforces their current worldview, and who are also eager to accept new ideas or viewpoints that conveniently reinforce and amplify their existing prejudices and hatreds.
The whole "false flag" thing is back, bigger and better than ever- note how the Russians funded groups who were diametrically opposed to each other, attempting to stage rallies both for and against various issues on the same days and in the same locales in the hopes of fomenting division and violence.
And it worked. It was all basically just a covert advertising campaign, and it worked way better than they ever dreamed it would. Face it- advertising works, or they wouldn't spend billions of dollars every year doing it.
So yeah, it worked, and it succeeded like magic against a populace who was unfamiliar with the technique and also not inclined to critical thinking.
They're here to stay, so get used to fake people and groups touting their "grassroots" agendas. They'll get better and better at hiding their tracks and before long it'll be well nigh impossible to tell the real from the fake, which is exactly what they want.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
So so hows does shameless political propaganda fit in with "news for nerds"?
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
The trolling would not work.
Ironically, you just helped illustrate the sort of lies you were trying to argue against the existence of.
Thank you
If you distrust politicians or the media, you have been manipulated by Russia.
your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
Uh. That happened a while ago now...
The elections are over, despite the remoaners bitching about how they want to continue voting until they get their way...
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Not really. Consider it like any war (or in this case a war of words) because ultimate foreign diplomacy works just like that. It's quite consistent to complain about the actions of your enemy while doing the same actions against them.
There's nothing uniquely American about this. In fact the same stories are coming out of every western country, you're just getting only the American side of the story. At the same time Russia was complaining about US meddling in the last election too.
Hell, Obama flew over personally to threaten Britain into voting remain and no one raised a shitfit about America "influencing" a British election.
To be fair, that's because Britain's our bitch.
A) that never happened, and B) if it did it didn't work.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Trolls from all sides have always been trying to influence elections and such. What difference does it make if a few foreign actors have now been "discovered" to be doing it too? I mean honestly, haven't there always been foreign actors doing this shit? There is nothing new here. Why all the hand wringing?
TL;DR, if it were so easy to influence change, it is already being used. There is nothing new here so why the sudden spotlight?
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
Hell, Obama flew over personally to threaten Britain into voting remain and no one raised a shitfit about America "influencing" a British election.
So you don't see any difference between a massive online pseudo-anonymous disinformation campaign and a world leader expressing his opinion on something?
Besides, even if he wasn't involved in that there is a reason hackers find it worthwhile to hack social media accounts.
I think you're going to need to spend some time dealing with your own issues.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
I do respond to non AC comments even if they are down a step...
I literally put no words in the parent's mouth. All I did was point to claims made by the Remain side as a means of establishing that they weren't all lies. You're ridiculous for claiming a clear AC troll got something right.
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
Annnnd threatened that the UK would to the back of the trading queue. I see the blinders Remain on.
However you want to rationalize your hypocrisy. You do know that Twitter memes and publicly posted Facebook ads are....wait for it...publicly posted, yes?
The idea that a few Twitter trolls and a few thousand dollars had any impact on a $9 billion election is a sign of delusion. No, it's not that Obama was pushing the TPP - which is NAFTA on steroids - at the same time Hillary wasn't bothering to show up in the Rust Belt! It must have been Twitter trolls! And Susan Sarandon!