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Did Reddit year-end recaps expose Russian interference in Alberta? (www.stalbertgazette.com)

submitted 9 months ago by L4s to c/technology

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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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[–] [email protected] 121 points 9 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?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (3 children)

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).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (2 children)

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.

I guess the question comes down to posting. Is it better for an American to weigh in on issues facing Red Deer, or a Russian? If they're honest, I think either is fine. If they're cosplaying as an Albertan, both are problematic.

[–] Somethingcheezie 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Both are foreign interference. Do you go to random threads of foreign small towns and weigh in. No. These people are politically or financially motivated.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

Do you go to random threads of foreign small towns and weigh in

Random foreign small towns? No. But I might have (when I was still using Reddit) gone to the community sub of a town where I have friends or family living, or where I'm going to visit soon/visited recently. And that sort of thing is far more likely to happen between Canada and America than it is between Canada and Russia.

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