Technology

It also suggests that Reddit has been sitting on this data showing signs of foreign interference and just didn't care to do anything about it.

I'm guessing it would be America, which is less of a problem because statistically most Redditors are American, and the two countries are diplomatically and socially very close, so a large number of Americans visiting a sub about small Canadian towns is less surprising than large amounts of Russians.

It'd be like if /r/queenstown had Australia as its second-biggest country of origin. Aus and NZ are so closely related (not just geographically, but socioculturally) that you'd expect that to be true, especially given Australia's comparatively large overall population compared to other potential candidates (per capita, you might not be surprised if a country like Tonga or Fiji were even higher, but in absolute terms that would be very surprising).

AFAIK during the seeding stage trolls try and get engagement. The moment they get people to engage, the game shifts to amplification. That way the people amplified are not the trolls themselves but actual people from the US, allowing them to keep distance from the future misinformation.

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

I noticed that those who were pushing anti BLM, and then anti-mask/anti-vaccine memes suddenly started pushing pro-Russia content the moment Russia invaded Ukraine. They've been around stirring the pot and creating polarizing content to cause disarray for years. And judging by the state of US politics, it has been working.

It really boggles my mind that so many people are ready to just categorically dismiss them and their obvious effectiveness. And then there’s the ones who know otherwise, but are playing right into the propaganda intentionally for one reason or another.

It FLABBERGASTS me that people get on internet forums knowing anyone could be from anywhere and have ulterior motives and not run everything thru the very basic filter of "qui bono", which is latin for Who benefits? The double tap is "Follow the money."

If the opinions put across lead to a conclusion that politically oppositional countries would find beneficial...guess what...you're talking to someone on their payroll. Or worse, you're talking to useful idiot doing the job for free.

I've called out hundreds of shills over the past few years. Hundreds. The only rational way to look at opinions online is askance.

There's a new word for you, it's personally my favorite, so remember it, use it, love it, spread it, and apply it to the internet. And tell others to do so as well.