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Bedbug panic was stoked by Russia, says France (www.lemonde.fr)

submitted 6 months ago by CAVOK to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

People don't have access to social media in Russia like they do in most democratic countries. They don't have as many devices, slower access, language barriers, and much bigger risk of serious problems from the government.

Also, democratic governments run by committees are less able and less willing to use this kind of tactic.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago (1 children)

People don't have access to social media in Russia like they do in most democratic countries.

We do. About 70% of the population admit that they use VK, less use Telegram, youth uses TikTok. When Instagram wasn't banned, about 15 millions used it at least once a week.

They don't have as many devices,

We have about 300 millions of registered mobile devices - more than 2 per citizen, including newborns and elderly people.

slower access,

While it's true for now due to governmental restrictions, the monopoly of Rostelecom, and sanctions, the internet access in Russia have been developing rapidly. Ookla says that Russia has an internet speed of about 85 Mbit/s on average. This number is pretty useless in the current context when the huge amount of the traffic to Europe routes via USA servers, but still it's a good number.

language barriers, and much bigger risk of serious problems from the government.

You got this part correct!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Yes I'm not saying Russia is still in the stone age, but

Those are significant differences. People in Russia are actively protected from foreign propaganda (like banning Instagram), whereas in the US there's a heavy emphasis on free speech and access to information.

Divide and conquer, a very old tactic now possible in an entirely new way via the Internet and social media. As with many things in life, it's complicated. There are many factors... but I think we already agree anyway.