this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2025
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politics

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[–] FiremanEdsRevenge 28 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah, sounds plausible but I ain't buying this shit.

But if true, NOW is when you decide to have a change of heart? Fuck you for enabling this shit.

[–] a_fancy_kiwi 17 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Like they said, no one knows what's real anymore. Instead of sharing this letter and getting my pitchfork out, I'm just going to wait and see where it goes. Even if it's true, it's too late

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 days ago

Is a bit odd the json example is of a Trump troll.

We know most of these things are true anyway, we seen him do it in real time. Push himself to the top of the feed, align with autocrats, censor his critics, etc. There’s nothing too surprising in here.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 days ago (3 children)

I get that if they reveal themself and provide proof, the very lives of them and their family are in danger. I'm not pretending that's an easy choice to make, or that I know what I would choose.

However. Without this proof, in our current disinformation environment, an unsourced, unprovable story like this is a half-measure and as such, just noise. Sorry...

[–] Lightsong 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yeah... I wonder where those breadcrumbs in the doc leads to tho. I'll try and look into this at least.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

If you look at the second example you’ll see Marc andreessen mentioned. He’s a follower of Curtis yarvins dark enlightenment. Also works closely with Elon.

https://www.ft.com/content/1f14799f-69a1-41cb-bf7f-6f16f9ad4a8b

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

I was skeptical until the very end... Surely some software engineers can dig into that code and find the "bread crumbs"?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

It is sourced though? The very fact that Marc Andreessen has created a disinfo bot with a Trump bot as the public example is a story on it's own.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/24/24204706/marc-andreessen-ben-horowitz-a16z-trump-donations

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

By unsourced, I mean anonymous. Without knowing who this is, and carefully tracking the proof from there, we can't know if it's true...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

You can know that bit is true. Marc Andreessen is behind that company. He is on the board of META. He is currently hiring for DOGE for Elon. He wants to accelerate us into a monarchy run by a CEO so we can achieve ASI quicker and follows Curtis Yarvis' dark enlightenment. And he's backing a twitter disinfo bot? lol come on.

Studies on the twitter algorithm show its been manipulated, elon silencing his critics, aligning with autocrats, etc is all public. There is very little unconfirmed in this article it just ties it together.

[–] elrik 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

There's no doubt in my mind that this happened and continues to happen.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Social Media and Political Influence

Whistleblower Alleges AI-Driven Election Interference

  • A former X (formerly Twitter) employee anonymously shared allegations on Substack claiming the platform was intentionally manipulated during the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

  • According to the whistleblower, X’s algorithms were adjusted under Elon Musk’s leadership to prioritize pro-Trump and right-wing content. Some left-wing posts critical of Democrats were also boosted, but allegedly only to create a façade of balance.

    • Backed Up by Research: These claims align with findings from a recent study that audited X’s algorithm. Key findings include:
      • Right-leaning users experienced the most significant exposure bias, with the algorithm amplifying content aligned with their views.
      • Both left- and right-leaning users saw reduced exposure to opposing viewpoints, reinforcing echo chambers.
      • New accounts were reportedly subject to a distinct right-wing bias in their default timelines.
    • While the whistleblower’s claims remain speculative, these independent findings suggest that X’s algorithm did, in fact, favor certain political narratives.
  • AI-Generated Propaganda: The whistleblower alleges that thousands of fake accounts were created using advanced AI systems, Grok and Eliza, to disseminate political messaging. These accounts were designed to imitate real users and reportedly pushed targeted propaganda related to Trump’s economic claims, border policies, and cryptocurrency initiatives.

  • To support these claims, the whistleblower pointed to a breadcrumb in the Eliza documentation, which describes how AI profiles could be pre-configured with specific narratives and responses. One example, allegedly labeled “Trump,” was programmed to amplify campaign messaging.

Marc Andreessen’s Connection to Eliza AI

  • Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), is closely connected to Eliza AI. His firm has backed Eliza Labs, the company behind the AI framework, which is also reportedly used internally at a16z (source).
  • While it’s possible that the example in the Eliza public documentation in this context was coincidental or even intended as satire, the fact that Andreessen is backing technology capable of such manipulation raises serious concerns. It demonstrates how tools designed for decision-making and automation can easily be repurposed for political influence.

Andreessen’s Political Views

  • Andreessen is an open supporter of MAGA politics and an advocate of Curtis Yarvin’s “Dark Enlightenment” philosophy, which proposes replacing democracy with a CEO-led “monarchy.”
    • Yarvin recently wrote an article suggesting that “American democracy should be replaced by what he calls a ‘monarchy’ run by a ‘C.E.O.’”
  • As The Verge summarized:
    • “We are looking at a simple trade against personal liberty — abortion, the rights of gay and trans people, and possibly democracy itself — in favor of crypto, AI, and a tax policy they like better.”

Elon Musk’s Role

  • The whistleblower also alleges that Musk was directly involved in these manipulations, reportedly overseeing algorithm changes and content moderation. Musk allegedly joked about being “Black Hat MAGA” while making these decisions.
  • The claims further suggest that X allowed foreign influence campaigns from countries like Israel, Iran, and Russia to operate on the platform, as long as their goals aligned with the platform’s manipulated narrative.

Impact and Speculation

  • The whistleblower describes the damage caused by these actions as catastrophic:
    • “The damage we’ve done is immeasurable, and I don’t know if it can ever be fixed. People don’t know what’s real anymore, and that’s exactly what we wanted.”
  • While the full extent of these claims has yet to be proven, the whistleblower’s account is bolstered by independent research and the connections of influential figures like Andreessen and Musk. Together, they paint a troubling picture of how powerful technology may have been used to undermine democratic processes.

Voting System Interference

Evidence of Election Hacking

  • Stephen Spoonamore, a cybersecurity expert, issued a “Duty to Warn” letter to Vice President Kamala Harris, outlining evidence of vote manipulation in key swing states during the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

  • Working with Smart Elections, Spoonamore revealed that voting tabulators were allegedly programmed to alter results after processing 400 ballots (up from 600 in 2020), a tactic designed to evade detection during recounts.

  • This tampering reportedly influenced outcomes in critical states, supported by findings in an analysis of Clark County’s election results.

  • Additional irregularities included the use of “bullet ballots,” where votes were cast only for the presidential race. These disproportionately favored Trump and deviated significantly from historical norms, suggesting deliberate interference.

Trump’s Statements on Manipulation

  • Donald Trump’s public remarks have fueled speculation that he was aware of these activities:
    • “We don’t need the votes,” he said, implying confidence in securing victory through means outside traditional voter turnout.
    • At a rally, he remarked, “Elon was very effective. He knows those computers better than anybody. Those vote counting computers. And we ended up winning Pennsylvania like in a landslide,” suggesting possible technological manipulation in vote counting.
    • His statement, “You won’t have to vote anymore,” further hinted at confidence in a pre-arranged outcome.
[–] donuts 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Elon Musk himself was deeply involved in these decisions, often joking about being "Black Hat MAGA.

As much as I like to believe this, I can't believe Phony Stark seeing himself as the villain

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

He literally has a black maga hat and calls himself DarkMAGA publicly

[–] donuts 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah I know, but Dark is a bit different than Black Hat imo. Black Hat literally means "the bad guys", while dark is open to interpretation, like the dark web

Also, DorkMAGA is what we should call them, lol

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I mean, the hat is black.

BlackHat doesn't mean 'bad guy' inherently, it means using bad means to achieve your goals. Like astroturfing to convince the people of something that is totally correct anyway and they're too dumb to understand. Or in this case, "we are looking at a simple trade against personal liberty — abortion, the rights of gay and trans people, and possibly democracy itself — in favor of crypto, AI, and a tax policy they like better."

The guy who owns the company that makes Eliza is directly working with Musk, on the board of Meta, and has written a has written a techno-optimist manifesto for effective accelerationism.

It's their MO. Effective accelerationists like Andreessen are ushering on the Dark Enlightenment envisioned by Curtis

"American democracy should be replaced by what he calls a “monarchy” run by what he has called a “C.E.O.”

And plenty of people seem to be onboard.

Tokenized, Inc: BlackRock's Plan To Own The Fractionalized World: “Markets don’t like uncertainty. Markets like, actually, totalitarian governments… Democracies are very messy.”

[–] donuts 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Fair enough! We all remember the photo and the look on his face when he kissed the ring.

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

Great thread with much more info the ""network state” movement led by Balaji Srinivasan, which aims 2 build crypto-based countries w/in existing states via the creation of “parallel institutions” like X."

https://bsky.app/profile/jennycohn.bsky.social/post/3levv4j35xk2b

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

This reads like a creative writing piece.