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Twitter Deletes Over 10,000 Bots That Discouraged US Midterm Voting (cnn.com)

Twitter has deleted over 10,000 disinformation bots discouraging Americans from voting in Tuesday's midterm elections.

An anonymous reader quotes CNN: Twitter said that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had brought the accounts to their attention. "For the election this year we have established open lines of communication and direct, easy escalation paths for state election officials, DHS, and campaign organizations from both major parties," the spokesperson said. The company said it believes the network of accounts was run from the United States.
The 10,000 accounts were deleted in late September and early October, Reuters reports: The number is modest, considering that Twitter has previously deleted millions of accounts it determined were responsible for spreading misinformation in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Yet the removals represent an early win for a fledgling effort... The DCCC launched the effort this year in response to the party's inability to respond to millions of accounts on Twitter and other social media platforms that spread negative and false information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and other party candidates in 2016, three people familiar with the operation told Reuters... The DCCC developed its own system for identifying and reporting malicious automated accounts on social media, according to the three party sources.

11 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Democratic control by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Everybody owes me a platform, waaah waaaah waaaah!

    Signed,
    The Party of Personal Responsibility

  2. Follow the phone trail. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Since Twitter now needs phone numbers as an anti bot measure, trace the companies giving out phone numbers to bots.

  3. Re:Democratic control by king+neckbeard · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The number of people on voter rolls doesn't change anything, and meatbag impersonation is ineffective and stupidly easy to catch, which is why it's so rare. There are TONS of ACTUAL problems with our electoral system, the chief of which is that we have a system that protects the two party system, but I haven't seen the GOP ever offer a solution to a problem that exists in the real world.

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  4. Re: Democratic control by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Interesting how I don't read too many stories about Republicans trying to register illegal aliens and dead people to vote yet every 2 years it happens in Chicago, California, Detroit.

    Funny how you don't read stories like this one then.

    Meanwhile, your claims of dead people being registered to vote are as bogus as the claims about busloads of illegal voters.

    How do we know? Because we found out they lived.

    Legit question for you AC- are there any legit reasons to try to suppress voter fraud? And I mean the real fraud committed by people, not the mysterious claims of machines miscounting their votes.

    Flawed vote counting is actually a good concern. Why exclude it?

    But here's your problem. They aren't trying to suppress voter fraud. By their own documented admission, they are trying to gain partisan advantages by suppressing the actual voter participation.

    A common theme in American history. And all the false hysteria that are the mantra of the Kobach's and O'Keefe's of the world only further serves to weigh against the GOP.

  5. Re:"Misinformation" by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 3, Funny

    Posting the same reply I gave you last time you linked the same article, which you didn't answer. Presumably because you couldn't find a Breitbart article that had an answer and you're not capable of coming up with one by yourself.

    No, they admitted under oath that their automated system deleted 48% of the tweets. Breitbart didn't omit those details, why did you?

    Also, why continue to vote for the Republicans in charge of that committee who failed to do anything after Twitter admitted that? They don't advocate for you, so why do you still support them? They took the side of big business, as usual, yet I doubt you're gonna vote to remove any of them from office in 2 weeks, are yah?

    --
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  6. Side note by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In the little over an hour since this story about trolls being removed from Twitter was posted, 34 of the 38 comments posted here were from anonymous cowards, and most of those were trolling, with comments like, "only n i g g e r s use Twitter" and "go choke yourself" and "it's an attack against conservatives" and how "the bots stuff is bullshit".

    I count five making the case for not voting and three others making the "both sides are trash" argument (which is also a case against voting).

    You don't have to go to Twitter to see this effect in action. The problem is, it's not working as well this time around.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:Side note by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In the little over an hour since this story about trolls being removed from Twitter was posted, 34 of the 38 comments posted here were from anonymous cowards, and most of those were trolling, with comments like, "only n i g g e r s use Twitter" and "go choke yourself" and "it's an attack against conservatives" and how "the bots stuff is bullshit".

      Two of those are just dumbarse AC wastes of space, a time honored Slashdot tradition. The other two are quite possibly just points of view that you don't like.

      I count five making the case for not voting and three others making the "both sides are trash" argument (which is also a case against voting).

      You don't have to go to Twitter to see this effect in action. The problem is, it's not working as well this time around.

      Making a case for not voting, and "both sides are trash", are points of view. You don't have to like them, but that doesn't make them nefarious "voter suppression". Doesn't make them bots either.

      Even directly suggesting that voting is a waste of time is just a point of view. It may or may not persuade anyone. We used to value the freedom to try to persuade each other of things. There may have even been an amendment about it. (Yes, Twitter isn't government. I'm talking about the sentiment, the valuing of that freedom.)

  7. Re:Democratic control by myid · · Score: 3, Informative

    Interesting how all the voter supression and election fraud comes from the Republicans.

    Nope. According to The New York Times,

    The North Dakota Democratic Party posted a misleading ad on its website and on Facebook that suggests state residents should reconsider voting in this year's election if they have hunting licenses in other states.
    . . .
    A look at the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party's claim:

    CLAIM: "By voting in North Dakota, you could forfeit your hunting licenses." - posted on the Democratic party's website this week.

    THE FACTS: The ad is false.

  8. Sir, the living dead have feelings too! by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Some of my best friends friends are Zombie-Americans (but they prefer to be called the living impaired).

    Seriously though, Voter fraud is a red herring to distract from Voter Suppression. Jury Duty, Voting on Tuesday, disenfranchising felons (and making it impossible for them to get their rights back), the constant voter roll purges (targeted at left leaning voters) and my personal favorite stationing armed police in riot gear outside polls in predominately black neighborhoods to "keep order". Heck, there's been a few instances of people being prosecuted and jailed for "voter fraud" because they helped an elderly relative who couldn't see vote, which is in itself suppression (don't vote or we'll throw you in prison).

    This stuff works, especially in a country with such slim margins of victory. Trump one the Whitehouse by a few hundred thousand votes.

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  9. Re:Democratic control by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What vote are they supposed to be suppressing by posting that on their own website? Interstate-hunting democrats?

  10. Re: There is a mountain of voter suppression by astrofurter · · Score: 3

    "Democratic candidates who want government of the people, by the people, for the people"

    Whoa-ho hehehehehehe wee-hee haw haw hahahahaha! Oh my brother, that's a good one!

    I'm definitely going to vote for a populist Democrat - right after I buy a bicycle for my goldfish to ride.