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To Disrupt America's 2020 Elections, Russian Internet Trolls Amplify Divisive Messages, Assemble 'Massive' Followings (time.com)
An anonymous reader quotes Bloomberg:
Russian internet trolls appear to be shifting strategy in their efforts to disrupt the 2020 U.S. elections, promoting politically divisive messages through phony social media accounts instead of creating propaganda themselves, cybersecurity experts say. The Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency may be among those trying to circumvent protections put in place by companies including Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. to find and remove fake content that hackers created to sow division among the American electorate in the 2016 presidential campaign. "Instead of creating content themselves, we see them amplifying content," said John Hultquist, the director of intelligence analysis at FireEye Inc. "Then it's not necessarily inauthentic, and that creates an opportunity for them to hide behind somebody else."
Other hackers are breaking into computing devices and using them to open large numbers of social media accounts, according to Candid Wueest, a senior threat researcher at Symantec Corp. The hacked devices are used to create many legitimate-looking users as well as believable followers and likes for those fake users... Wueest said he observed a decrease in the creation of new content by fake accounts from 2017 to 2018 and a shift toward building massive followings that could be used as platforms for divisive messages in 2020.
Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy responded that policing foreign influence campaigns is "an incredibly hard balance" between the need to slow down bad actors while maintaining "meaningful public discussion."
Other hackers are breaking into computing devices and using them to open large numbers of social media accounts, according to Candid Wueest, a senior threat researcher at Symantec Corp. The hacked devices are used to create many legitimate-looking users as well as believable followers and likes for those fake users... Wueest said he observed a decrease in the creation of new content by fake accounts from 2017 to 2018 and a shift toward building massive followings that could be used as platforms for divisive messages in 2020.
Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy responded that policing foreign influence campaigns is "an incredibly hard balance" between the need to slow down bad actors while maintaining "meaningful public discussion."
I live in Norway. Russia is my neighbour. I have been to both USA and Russia. I see both as friends, and none as enemies. I don't get why these allegations should result in nuclear war (it seems that this is the goal of those who want to drive Russia against USA). If someone is meddling with your election, you take steps to fix your election. Exploits will be exploits, regardless.
cringe. this stuff needs to be kept in its containment site (reddit)
You won't stop Fox News repeating the Russian Memes, you cannot tell the difference between RT and Fox, and haven't been able to since Obama era. Whatever token thing Facebook does won't change a thing when it comes to the National Enquirer and Fox repeating those fake stories.
Try this, when they're both running commentary shows, flip between Fox and RT. Same talking points, same lies, interchangeable.
Putin never takes over a country by external force, he leverages the traitors inside. That's you Fox and Friends, Hannity, Pirro....
<Satire>My fellow Americans, this is why we need to eliminate the threat of Democracy. Once only the properly-educated are allowed to choose our great nation's leaders, will we be safe from the threat of Commie election interference! Do you want spies, illegal aliens, and godless heathens casting your vote for you?! This voting test will ensure that No True American will be ineligible to vote.</Satire>
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
With some graph theory, shouldn't those (mostly) closed cycles of accounts be easy to individuate and cordon off ? Better than delete them, just hide their messages outside their own cycles, similar to -1 messages here on /.
Non-Linux Penguins ?
So was Hillary a Russian troll when she declared a quarter of America a "basket of deplorables"?
She was trolling for the same people Mitt Romney was trolling for when he effectively called 47% of Americans a bunch of enitled moochers and his entire Republican audience clapped their approval. Hint: most of those 47% are dirt poor minimum wage workers who don’t pay income taxes because the tax code explicitly exempts them due to them being dirt poor. According to the Republicans these Walmart slaves are simply to lazy to be millionaires.
Look, it's entirely possible that certain Russian groups are having fun screwing with the US. I mean, the US has mucked around in other people's countries for decades, so why not?
That said, it's pretty stupid to blame the Russians for the current, divisive politics in the US. The locals (I'm in Europe, so I'm not involved here)...the locals are doing a bang-up job all by themselves. Decades ago, conservatives didn't much approve of liberal opinions. Downright Puritan, sometimes. Then came the 60's and 70's, and the progressive movement was born and grew. Since roughly the 80's, the progressives have defined whole new levels of intolerance. If you disagree with them, you are not only wrong, you are evil. It's the reaction to this intolerance, not any sort of Russian hacking, that got Trump elected.
The progressives just cannot imagine that half of the country actually disagrees with them. It's so much easier to find some external enemy to blame - it's not that the progs are wrong, or that they've alienated half the country - it's those damned Ruskies.
A few years ago, I thought that the growing backlash might result in some self-examination and a grudging-but-peaceful retreat from this intolerance. Sadly, the idea that the progressives themselves have become the intolerant ones - that differing opinions can legitimately exist - this seems to be beyond their comprehension. Which means that the way forward is likely to be increasingly vicious and even violent.
It ain't the Russians driving this, it's the progressive agenda, and the intolerant people who support it.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
That's the post-truth narrative: everyone lies all the time about everything so believe whatever you want.
It's dangerous because it's basically giving up on democracy and trying to make things better, and instead voting for stupid reasons like pissing off liberals or trying to disrupt the establishment by voting for even more established candidates.
Worst of all it makes people think that their opinions are the most valid and ignore all advice from people who do actually understand the issues. Brexit is basically 25% of the population of the UK experiencing a Dunning-Kruger moment.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Just saying the Russians are spreading messages is not helpful, the correct course of action is to figure out the messages and let people know. What people don't realize is that they are playing both sides of the fence, however it seems the news only talks about the right-wing disinfo campaigns. We know for a fact that they do the same thing to galvanize left-wing partisans as well, so why don't we expose that? It would do a lot to ensure people on the right that this isn't just about silencing their views, and would help convince them of the problem. Making it a one-party issue only makes it easier for the trolls to defend.
Myself I became a believer after I encountered a few online who were trying to promote ethnostatism in stilted English while posing as "Americans", in a sports forum of all places. From what I've read stirring up racial animosity seems to be a big part of the plan, including things like drumming up support for BLM while at the same time marshaling forces against it.
If you're a US citizen, and graduated high school, then you should sue your school system for not having taught you the basics of the US Constitution.
If you're not a US citizen then:
There were huge debates at the Constitutional Convention at how best to deal with unequal sized states. (For example large states such as France and Germany in the EU and small states such as Luxembourg and Cyprus.) The solution was to give Electoral Votes close to the size of the state population and then make it a winner take all scenario for each state. The purpose for this was to prevent a candidate from racking up the votes in a large state and thus swamping, and making irrelevant, the wishes of the small state.
Imagine you lived in a union where you joined for common defense; had a common currency, open borders internally, and no internal tariffs - but just about everything else left to the states. Imagine there were huge social and economic differences between these states in which there was little to no common ground.
In the 1780s the main point of contentions were slavery and agriculture v merchant trading policies.
Today we have other issues.
This is why the electoral system helps keep peace. A large part of our current discord comes from trying to make a multi-cultural, continent-wide country have one-size fits all laws. That doesn't work - and it surely doesn't work when it's unequally enforced.
Here's an example we have the crazy scenario where it's close to illegal for one person to transport his legally owned firearms to another (and zero exception for people who make an honest mistake in how they transport these items). Furthermore a resident of a state (say NY) can't buy, own, and keep a firearm in another state. WTF is this? A law that prevents you from legal actions elsewhere. This is like a state making drugs illegal in its state and preventing its citizens from using drugs in another.
The electoral system is there to prevent the large states from stomping on the small states. If not for the electoral college and separation of powers there cannot be a stable union. Take a look at the collapse of the EU.
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
The UK existed long before a France and Germany planned an "EU". :)
Lots of art, trade, science, culture spread around the world from the UK well before the EU
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Also a key point, at that same Constitutional Convention, it was decided that nothing laid down in that document should not be subject to change by the will of the people, because the founding fathers were wise enough to know they couldn't predict the future, nor lay down a perfect plan to ensure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to the people it would protect.
"Post-truth narrative" is just some stupid buzzword; nothing has changed from the past, we're just seeing a new generation formulate the opinion that politicians lie and/or shouldn't be trusted. It amazes me this ever started to go away. I have to laugh at the constant accusation Donald Trump has told a lie - when did you ever look to politicians as truth tellers, trustable, or even someone who would know the facts on any subject????
Politics and politicians were never supposed to be about laying out all the facts and making "scientifically correct" decisions. Nothing at that level is black and white, and everything has pros and cons. The only thing that's getting worse (and perfectly evidenced by your DK comment), is that each side thinks the other side has completely lost it, just doesn't "understand all the facts", and is so stupid their views are not even worthy of respect.
I mean, the GOP's main strategy is cultivating a divisive climate on hot button topics & in/out-group labelling. They're spending a lot of money on this & are also getting considerable support & amplification from traditional corporate media. Are they annoyed that Russia is spending a fraction of what they are on it & getting all the credit?
Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
the purpose was to shift power from the populous cities (which were full of working class citizens) and to rural areas where the wealthy lived and had their plantations and a tight control on the voting electorate.
But they don't teach you that in school because it doesn't fit the desired narrative. Anyway, go read a book called "A People's History of the United States" for starters. We are one hell of a fucked up country.
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All you need to vote is a driver's license, and illegals have those.
You know how I can tell you've never registered to vote?
The greatest presidential landside in US history was won by 17 million votes. There are, at least, 22 million illegals, and they practically all vote democrat. Do the maths.
You'd think with 22 million cases of voter fraud, the Republican would be able to find at least one case of it. Still waiting on that.
So many posts on places even like Slashdot are designed to create vitriol between different schools of thought, political parties, you name it. I don't know how many are pure trolls and how many might just be pissed off at "the other side", but the best way to get past this stuff is to take a step back and evaluate all this stuff pushing our hate buttons. Don't let the trolls control your emotions. Hating everything and everybody is not the best way to go through life. And the headlines of people doing stupid and hate-worthy things do not represent the majority of any subset of people.
If everybody would post a useful/positive post every time they saw a troll post, it would go a long way to getting rid of the unneeded hate bandwagon going around the internet these days.
They always demonized republicans, called them racists, ever since LBJ lost the Civil Rights Act battle to them.
Um....you do realize the Civil Rights Act passed, right? With more Democratic votes than Republican votes. And LBJ was instrumental in lobbying FOR the bill.
Also, for those of you as unaware about US politics as this poster, there's this thing called the "Southern Realignment". In 1964, many Southerns were still so pissed off at Lincoln that they refused to join the Republican party. So the political division in the US at the time was not Democrat vs Republican, it was Western Republican + Southern Democrat vs Northern Republican + Western Democrat. Even this is an oversimplification, in that skillful politicians gathered a bloc of other politicians and frequently voted together, regardless of party lines.
The Civil Rights Act was the thing that broke this pattern, because it was so abhorrent to those Southern Democrats that they switched to the Republican party. And as a result of the ensuing party shift, many Northern Republicans became Democrats. This is called the Southern Realignment, and it is one of the major reasons why US politics is where it is today, instead of where it was in the 1930s to 1950s.
This is also the end of the process where the Democratic and Republican parties flipped who was Left and Right. And why you'll hear lots of Republicans falsely talking about how Republicans are all about civil rights - the parties are not in the same political positions as they used to be.