this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2025
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Fediverse vs Disinformation

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Pointing out, debunking, and spreading awareness about state- and company-sponsored astroturfing on Lemmy and elsewhere. This includes social media manipulation, propaganda, and disinformation campaigns, among others.

Propaganda and disinformation are a big problem on the internet, and the Fediverse is no exception.

What's the difference between misinformation and disinformation? The inadvertent spread of false information is misinformation. Disinformation is the intentional spread of falsehoods.

By equipping yourself with knowledge of current disinformation campaigns by state actors, corporations and their cheerleaders, you will be better able to identify, report and (hopefully) remove content matching known disinformation campaigns.


Community rules

Same as instance rules, plus:

  1. No disinformation
  2. Posts must be relevant to the topic of astroturfing, propaganda and/or disinformation

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 13 hours ago

If you want less immigration then stop foreign policies that help fuck up other countries. Not saying that is the only cause but in the long run probably more effective than rounding up random people from the street.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 23 hours ago

ban illegal immigration

It is banned, that’s why it’s illegal

[–] [email protected] 7 points 23 hours ago

All those problems are the result of corporate greed.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 22 hours ago

When a group pf people all share the same one brain cell, they tend to repeat each other.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They are all paid by the same people, Its not that hard to see which side they are on.

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

Usually given the exact same script too

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

you mean a prompt to OpenAI api?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Sometimes? But even like 20 years ago when every single ABC/FOX/NBC anchor was literally given a script (teleprompter) the the way down to the local level and they were instructed to adhere to it as rigidly as possible

Edit: I exaggerate slightly, but not as much as you might think

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Subtlety is for the 2010s. We in the propaganda finger paint by numbers era now (and none of the numbers will be brown!).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

except in Germany, brown is coming back big there

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Turns out chatbots are just "intelligent" enough to copy/paste shit and change it a little so it doesn't get automatically removed.

Also the DOJ told us these people take money from the Kremlin.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Most con shit is stupid by design, like those scam emails that are deliberately written in broken English so that only stupid people will fall for them. Why would they bother writing something complex when they need an army of morons to lap up the talking points?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago (3 children)

lol America may as well be a “third world country”

Why would anyone from a developed country come to the rapidly deteriorating US?

Idiocracy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

I've been saying for a while that America is an undeveloping nation.

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[–] [email protected] 161 points 1 day ago (17 children)

third worlders

I see they’ve found their new N-word after DEI-hire

[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 day ago (1 children)

i bet none of them would answer the same way if you asked them what a 3rd world country is

[–] [email protected] 65 points 1 day ago (11 children)

No chance that more than a fourth of them realize it’s from the Cold War and originally mean nations that were neither in the sphere of Soviet or American interest. They just think it means poor country with brown people

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[–] throwawayacc0430 14 points 1 day ago (3 children)

What the fuck is this outdated "third world" term?

Switzerland was neutral during the Cold War so are y'all banning the Swiss from immigrating?

Russia is technically 2nd world, so they're fine?

What is this dumb terminology lmfao.

Okay I think they meant "developing countries".

But why would someone from a developed region such as the EU immigrate to the US? The only reason why someone would want to come is because their country is already terrible and they want to take a risk, but if you ban them from coming, then you have zero immigration and your country collapses due to insufficient workers. Lol, dumbass politicians.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago

The term has been hijacked from it's original meaning, much like irony.

That said, it's so dumb. The folks from developing countries are much more likely to be on "their side". People from developing countries tend to be a great deal more religious. While folks from the EU tend to be less religious, and want more "socialist" programs from the government.

But of course they can't get over their racism to even make any good decisions.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

Its the way they refer to poor nonwhite countries.

Developing works too, kind of.

Low income / high income is the most neutral way to frame it.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 day ago

It's jarringly obvious that they are just told what to say.

Reminds me of propaganda workers in Serbia that sometimes copy their messages along with additional instructions, so you'd see something like "LONG LIVE THE PRESIDENT but change it a bit so that it's not all the same" in the comments of news platforms.

[–] [email protected] 86 points 1 day ago (2 children)

“Talking Points Memo” isn’t just a website. The term comes from a Republican strategy to send out a memo to the party explaining what the message is that party leadership wants hammered on public media this week. It includes a list of “talking points” with premade example quotes.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Way back when the Daily Show used to cut together clips of GOP talking heads pivoting to their talking points in interviews, regardless of the question being asked. It was surreal. And the Left never found a way to counter it, which is why they still do it today.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I'm always baffled why 'journalists' don't just repeat "Answer the fucking question" at politicians when they do that. Seems like a pretty simple way to counter it.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Thank you, wanted to make sure someone posted it. And the sad thing is, this is how we got Trump. Boomers ate this shit up from their "local" news...

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Counter point. Those countries are sending us hot chicks.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

so immigrants are only welcome when they're hot?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

Leave the straw man on the farm bro

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And somehow, this is still a more sane immigration policy

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 day ago
[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Like, obviously they all get their marching orders from one place.

But damn. How have they kept a seal on it?

Its obviously refried bullshit, but their ability to stay in lockstep smacks of a state level actor.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 day ago (2 children)

but their ability to stay in lockstep smacks of a state level actor.

I guarantee you its a national group like the Heritage Foundation or TPUSA issuing these talking points. Just because the opposition is organized doesn't mean their foreign backed. That's just conspiratorial thinking.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

I guarantee you its a national group like the Heritage Foundation or TPUSA issuing these talking points.

Thats the right answer. I just don't get how they've kept it from leaking.

That’s just conspiratorial thinking.

It can be both conspiratorial and true.

I think rightwing movements have become victims to a kind of "ideological spear fishing" coming out of Russia for decades.

NRA: Russian funded.

Rightwing astroturfed podcasters: Russian funded.

European rightwing movements: Russian funded.

Its obvious that right wing movements were coopted decades ago to weaken and collapse western Democracies. So when it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and smears shit all over the walls like a duck, maybe its a fucking duck*?

*[ apologies to any ducks whom I might have besmirched comparing them to rw'ers ]

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago

The nice thing about being a Russian asset? Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V all day.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's just you. There's been a distinct lack of subtlety in right wing propaganda for a long time, going back at least to "this is extremely dangerous to our democracy."

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It seems to work. People, all of us, are kind of stupid and when we hear things repeated we remember them. None of us are immune to propaganda.

Repeating something simple, and false, that appeals to emotions is going to have a bigger impact than something longer and complicated.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

Post this message at least nine times or you will have bad luck!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

its because they are getting thier talking points from putin, who is paying all of thier income.

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