this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
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Did Reddit year-end recaps expose Russian interference in Alberta?::Online anti-LGBTQ+ harassment and engaging with small communities are documented foreign interference tactics, but they have so far not been observed in Canada.

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[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 121 points 8 months ago (15 children)

When Reddit’s year end recaps were released — which give statistics on activity for individual subreddits such as top posts and comments — they indicated Russia was the third most common country of origin for users visiting many of these [small subreddits for Albertan towns], causing moderators to rethink what was behind the trolling activity they had contended with a few months before.

I don't think there's any question about the interference campaign existing. At this point the question is about influence. How effective are these trolls?

And what was the second country, and why isn't that a problem?

[–] Betch@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago (4 children)

I'd really like to know that too. US maybe?

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 13 points 8 months ago (3 children)

That's what I'm guessing.

But if there are a bunch of Americans coming to Albertan subs and astroturfing political opinions, I'm not sure that's actually better than Russia.

I don't give a shit if it's an American or Russian who wants to warp our discourse, our political conversations are still getting bent out of shape.

[–] Betch@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Oh absolutely. In no way is it any better, it just adds to it.

It would be good to know what percentage of users/posts were from country #2 and Russia as well.

[–] Shiggles@sh.itjust.works 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It’s a lot more likely a US citizen was raised in/has family in a small Canadian town though.

[–] maynarkh@feddit.nl 4 points 8 months ago

And speaks English

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