this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2024
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/16162455

How Russia is Influencing US Voters. Russian Intelligence Document "Guerrilla Media Campaign in the US" [Translated] Page 5

Rest of the document is visible here:

https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-09/exhibits_9a_and_9b.pdf

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[–] [email protected] 85 points 2 months ago (6 children)

And before people say "not Lemmy, we are too small" - It's pretty obvious that a major Lemmy instance is literally a training ground for these recruits before they get promoted to Facebook and reddit duty (either intentionally or otherwise). There have been a few narratives this election which seem to have been tested out on here weeks before getting to Facebook and reddit. "Blue MAGA" was a pretty obvious one they seemed to workshop on Lemmy.

[–] kinther 30 points 2 months ago (2 children)

There are certain actors on Lemmy that I'm betting will disappear after the presidential election cycle or significantly pull back their posting.

Basically fanning the flames of "democrat bad, support israel genocide" while also saying "republican not in power, can't blame them!". Genocide is terrible no matter who does it and we shouldn't pretend Republicans would be any better. In all likelihood, they would be worse.

[–] CarbonatedPastaSauce 1 points 2 months ago

Always a safe bet

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

this is a bit scary as the fediverse is likely a bit more difficult than facebook and such. I hate to think we are training them to well.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

It’s pretty obvious that a major Lemmy instance is literally a training ground for these recruits

Is there any evidence to substantiate this claim, or are we doing the "Everyone on the instance I don't like is a Russian bot, because they disagree with me" line of reasoning?

“Blue MAGA” was a pretty obvious one they seemed to workshop on Lemmy.

Wasn't this in response to the dead-end Biden guys who were growing increasingly hysterical as he tanked out in the polls? Lemmy's gotten significantly more normal since Harris took the top of the ticket and the numbers have rebounded.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Nah, more like "Russian bots exist and some people I disagree with are Russian bots." Which is pretty much the entire premise of the article.

It's also pretty easy to tell the difference IMO. The trolls tend to just do nothing but troll and flame. They don't really spend much time engaging on other topics.

As far as why I think Lemmy is a training ground? Call it a hunch. Obviously I don't have a notarized letter from a troll farm saying that they are in control of a certain worldnews forum, but a lot of the usual suspects fit a bit too neatly into that box to not raise an eyebrow. There are some other patterns as well but its definitely all circumstantial.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 5 points 2 months ago

It’s also pretty easy to tell the difference IMO.

Sounds like something a bot would say.

[–] Ensign_Crab 3 points 2 months ago

Is there any evidence to substantiate this claim, or are we doing the “Everyone on the instance I don’t like is a Russian bot, because they disagree with me” line of reasoning?

It's option B in all cases.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yep, i've noticed their rhetoric has gotten bad on the Memes sub. I just unsubbed there actually. 196 is more fun anyways.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

The .ml memes sub is so infuriating at times.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Don't be silly. Those comms are filled with people who could no longer stand reddit-brained commenters shouting all the pro-US propaganda.

The belief that all political dissenters of the DNC are somehow trained or foolish monkeys tricked by the wiles of a foreign country is itself a powerful propaganda point. Now i don't expect you to believe that just cuz i said it, but if i were right, what might such propaganda achieve? Does it perhaps cause you to consider all criticisms of the DNCs policies as "russian prop" and then not read more? If it does, is it a "thought terminating cliche? "

After all, you believe it somehow (even though thinking through it would dismiss the idea as ridiculous) and i bet you're a smart person generally.

You might think I'm a ruskie no matter what but consider my POV. I left reddit because i couldn't stand the politics there, only to have those politics follow me and scream that im some agiprop to fool them.

No, no, i don't want anything to do with the childish US-centric worldview of reddit. Its not about them cats, i did it for my sanity, cuz the shit redditors say hurts my soul. I leave to find people who think like i do only to have the most strident screamers follow me. No, screamers, you arent my target, you goldarn children are my endless headache

I don't want people to change their politics i want them to stop filling my feed and inbox with stupid bullshit.