this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2024
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Armies of bots battled on Twitter over Chinese spy balloon incident::Large proportions of users posting on Twitter – now X – about the Chinese balloon that drifted over the US and Canada in 2023 were bots attempting to shape the debate

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[–] WatDabney@sopuli.xyz 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

No surprise there.

There was never even the slightest chance that that balloon could pass through US airspace unobserved, and China possesses FAR more effective, secure and difficult-at-best methods with which to spy. So very obviously, it was intended to be discovered. And presuming that to be the case, the important bit then was the reaction its discovery would trigger.

So it was safe to presume from the start (as I did) that some significant part of the social media noise about it was simple astroturfing explicitly intended solely to further whatever response whoever wanted.

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There was never even the slightest chance that that balloon could pass through US airspace unobserved

That's because they forgot to paint it blue. It sticks out like a sore thumb.

[–] AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Anytime I need to sneak around I paint myself blue.

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 5 points 9 months ago

You blue yourself?

[–] bravesilvernest@lemmy.ml 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)
[–] AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Well no. I take my jorts off for this part.