New court documents reveal that Russia is keeping a very, very long list of influencers to spread its propaganda.
The Russian disinformation plot revealed in a Justice Department indictment this week may just be the tip of the iceberg, according to newly unsealed court documents.
On Wednesday, the DOJ announced it would seize 32 internet domains linked to a larger Kremlin scheme to promote disinformation and influence the 2024 election. The Russian campaign, known as Doppelganger, uses AI-generated content to create “fake news” boosted through social media with the aim of electing Donald Trump.
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Of particular note, the documents released Wednesday included an affidavit that noted a Russian company is keeping a list of more than 2,800 influencers world wide, about one-fifth of whom are based in the United States, to monitor and potentially groom to spread Russian propaganda. The affidavit does not mention the full list of influencers, but is still a terrifying indicator of how deep the Russian plot to interfere in U.S. politics really goes.
Guaranteed they are all over the Fediverse and probably hosting their own instances.
There are a few obvious ones around but it’s against the rules to even suggest that they could be shills or bots. Hopefully this news will get the mods to start taking action against the most blatant ones.
I, for one, will not return to allowing that particular guy back on my feed.
That guy gets on my nerves, but I’ve read enough from him on various topics that I’m pretty confident he’s a genuine user. Don’t get me wrong, he’s for sure an ideologue who’s no fun at parties, but I don’t think he’s a bot or that he’s saying things he was instructed to say and doesn’t actually care deeply about.
There’s another user, with a three-word-phrase username, that I would describe similarly.
I’ve heard it from a reliable source, a Lemmy.ml mod, that there’s simply no Russian activity on Lemmy. Would you like to know who?
Wait, I think I know the instance you’re talking about but since when are we not allowed to say anything about it? Or do you just mean on .ml you can’t do that
In !politics@lemmy.world, for example, it is against the rules to accuse another user of being a bot or paid actor. Any post suggesting a user might be will likely be removed at the minimum.
Yes but… Fediverse has more moderators and even server level bans where we can fight back.
It’s a different political makeup here on the Fediverse. It’s not like the Russians can hand money to just one or two CEOs and suddenly all of the moderators we trust here turn to the other side.
We need to keep our wits about us here. We came to Lemmy (and Fediverse) because centralized commercial control of our discussion spaces led to perverse incentives.
I only consider this political situation to be yet another test of the Fediverse. We have to survive it. But I also believe we moved to the Fediverse because we all believe we can do more about disinformation or malicious actors here on the Fediverse than on… Reddit or Facebook.
Everyone that doesn’t agree with me politically basically
I’ve seen a lot of seriously obvious and unapologetic shilling for very out there positions around here. The further telltale sign is that when one popular poster starts getting regularly rebuffed and shutdown, backup arrives not long after to pollute a thread with their bullshit.
It’s a slippery slope to start assuming people are bots or paid shills. Whos to say everyone that agreed with you at first weren’t bots and then regular people came in and commented their own opinion that went against the first wave of bots?
Not everyone that thinks capitalism is broken is a paid Russian agent. I’m assuming that is what you are referring too. Some are very extreme in their views but the most likely explanation is that they are a combination of stupid and mad.
Not the green party or communist not jobs necessarily, but the Pro-Putin, “Ukraine is Nazis”, warmongering types…yup.
I’d argue they are still most likely just idiots that got wrapped up in foreign propaganda, and not necessarily paid to post on lemmy of all places.
I just think calling people bots and shills has no place in honest discourse and the brushstroke always tends to get bigger and bigger.
You didn’t read the article
Where in the article does it mention lemmy? As far as I am concerned, we do not have any influencers and we definitely won’t be on the list.
I’m just saying assuming people are bots is a bad habit. Why not just assume I’m a paid shills and disregard my points? See how easy it is and why it shouldn’t be encouraged?
Pretty sure they’re making veiled shill accusations at anyone who isn’t 100% on board with arming Netanyahu until his genocide is complete.