r/askanything • u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 • 8h ago
General Question Is Russia deliberately targeting North America by using bots online?
Where can I see the effects of Ukraines data center strikes in Russia and the reduction of certain types of bots online ?
80
u/crooked_kangaroo 8h ago
Did you just fly in from Stupid Town?
20
u/CallMeTrouble-TS 8h ago
Boy are his arms tired.
7
u/Alive_Cadet 8h ago
Genuinely laughed out loud. I imagine Patrick Star flapping around flying into town.
6
7
2
3
12
12
10
u/NerdyTimes_IDK 🤔 8h ago
Duh. Online manipulation via reddit, X, and Tiktok are massive ways to influence the world and its cheap and easy.
9
u/purplejesus2315 8h ago
Yes. They believe our right wing is vulnerable to manipulation
1
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 8h ago
Yet the right wingers have the people at the top who I assume have the largest chunk of the countries wealth and would profit the most from the plebs on both sides fighting each other.
9
u/JustADudeOnce 8h ago
3
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 7h ago
This is what prompted me to ask a rhetorical question. Only a few mentioned this. Which I find unsurprising.
3
u/Eosphoros_364 5h ago
Tons of answers, so idk if you've gotten an exact answer you're looking for yet. But, if you Google "cloudflare automated Internet traffic October" you'll see that between Oct 8-12th automated traffic fell to ~94% below it's baseline. You can also go look at comments and interactions on musk or Trump's posts and within those timeframe the vast majority of posts supporting them disappear.
2
9
8
u/WInativemm 8h ago
What do you think started the MAGA movement? They are following the US play book that they've used on other countries.
9
6
7
32
u/Several-Buy-3017 🤔 8h ago
Yes. Reddit is one of the largest sources of Anti-American bots 🤖
5
4
u/CreativelySeeking 5h ago
Bots programmed to harm the USA promote republicans.
-3
u/Several-Buy-3017 🤔 4h ago
Nope. Most the bots that I see are promoting suicidal empathy, which clearly falls into the Democrat wheel house.
1
u/CreativelySeeking 4h ago
Well, clearly you are a republican minion out of step with reality.
Also, notice people who make claims like this -always- have their comments hidden.
0
u/WetLoophole 8h ago
You used to be allied with most of us and have consistently threatened us with trade wars and invasions lately. Maybe some of those bots are just us who actively hate you and see you as hostile and treacherous?
13
u/MuhfugginSaucera 8h ago
Regardless of people who actively hate the US for both legitimate and illegitimate reasons, there have been Russian psyops into American society and how to break it since the early days of the cold war.
They have been using internet bots and bad actors en masse since at least the early 2010s on Facebook and Twitter. It's very effective, and it's even state sponsored. You know this though, and are probably just being facetious or at the very least willfully disingenuous.
The problem is we now have bot farms in China, Israel, Iran, Pakistan, India, some African countries, etc... I'm not claiming that's an exhaustive list, either.
1
u/Several-Buy-3017 🤔 4h ago
Or it could be that the leveling of protectionalistic trade barriers between the U.S. and its “allies” has created fair trade, which angers countries who benefited from the unequal tariffs & policies.
Also POTUS 47 likes to talk a bunch of shite, which actually makes him more human than the lizard people like Obama and Hilary. The metaphors sometimes go over the heads of his critics and they will think that the U.S. is going to invade Greenland, when his true motive is to bring attention to Arctic Security which was mostly ignored by “the allies”.
Also some of “the allies” needed to have their peepee slapped because they were too cheap to pay their NATO dues, so again POTUS 47’s strong language irritated those world leaders who were too stingy to defend their own borders.
Now we have “the allies” arresting their own citizens over Facebook posts. Hmmmm, starting to wonder if “the allies” have the same values anymore…
1
u/ASongOfSpiceAndLiars 3h ago
Most of the bots are pro Trump and pretend to be pro America because they want Trump/Republicans to collapse America.
0
u/Chaosrealm69 4h ago
No, Reddit has a lot of people who hate what some Americans have been doing and it can look like Anti-American hatred but it's only for specific people like Trump. Hegseth, Miller, Musk and others.
Basically people dislike what your leaders are doing and you think it is against all Americans and not just the people you put in charge.
5
5
4
5
u/The_Demosthenes_1 8h ago
I think they started targeting the US Decades ago. Before bots and online was a thing.
1
5
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 8h ago
Okay, good so most of us agree. Then why the fuck do y’all think when China and Russia are doing everything in their power to limit the negative effects of the psyOps on it’s population, the west let’s it happen with no real intentions of regarding it as an act of war on our minds because it’s done to create chaos and dissent in mostly democratic institutions?
4
u/aquacraft2 8h ago
Anyone can use bots for anything. I personally have a sneaking suspicion that alot of these disaster fomo drops are the result of big companies using the cover of resellers to launder and double their profit on the same limited products.
As for political gains, absolutely. I can't attest to anything specific, but I find it very convenient that the timeliness of "division in the country" coincided with mass migration to app based everything, a good computer can emulate hundreds of crappy phones to say whatever they want.
1
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 7h ago
Can you be more specific about your first paragraph?
3
u/aquacraft2 6h ago
It's not hard to make bots, and it's even easier to sell their time. People can use bots to boost engagement, get more views on their channel, outright fake subscribers, drop sniping, price watching, etc etc.
The internet being invented by nerds, bots (aka fake users) have been around since day one. Heck, modem communication as a whole is kind of just a bot, since you're not telling your friend what's in the files, the computers are talking to eachother and a program is doing the translating between data and transmission. So of course all the different ways people could cheat systems using automated programs posing as full users (back when there wasn't any real distinction) were implemented as soon as they were possible.
They've been a problem this whole time. And there isn't much we can do besides more riggerous Turing tests.
Them being used for political gain and major disinformation campaigns is kind of new (barring some nerd sh from the 80s/90s etc, like when 4 channers briggade online voting contests for a joke)
1
5
u/CaLego420 6h ago
Well of course, the truly horrifying thing about it is how many people seem to be genuinely SURPRISED by the change...btw this is a change that isn't going to manifest as data graph site traffic, since it requires you to use your own two eyes. If people haven't had a noticeable drop-off in nonsense, then l don't know what to tell them. Same as these "pro-bot" ninnies who l would guess have never curated their online footprint before, and are having withdrawals because they aren't being bot-fed 24/7 stupidity...instead, YOUR algorithm is actually able to breath and has half a chance find/seek content more catered to you...I'll also add that the interactions you are having online are with ACTUAL people which is something that hasn't organically happened since like 2009, so l'd enjoy it while it lasts...
BTW: Russia has always been the bot factory (although those cell walls and other ghetto means of infoops are still around) while China has used it's "bots" for other means, like hacking American cell networks and other assorted shenanigans instead of forced propaganda bullhorns. Just saying
1
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 6h ago
Interesting points. There’s a reason why I don’t waste my time on any other platform. It’s too much. You instantly lose the ability to think critically in most instances I’d imagine.
2
u/CaLego420 3h ago
Okay, and that's understandable, but let's look at it objectively: Reddit might have the better UI/features (such as old Reddit to bounce stuff off and thin the fog a little) but it is very much one of the worst offenders out there, and is pushing hard for that top spot. Auto-mods (not all based admin site side for some semblance of control) run rampant everywhere here, bot accounts (it literally takes 5 seconds to click a user's profile Pic and see their profile, then deduce from there) have entire private sub reddits to cultivate and conspire on (debatable about r/conservative being exactly this, though it is an interesting antfarm to look through and is a case study for bot phenomenon, for an experiment check the sub for before and after metrics for our last election, watch as the bots spike to record highs and engagement on the sub plummets post Nov 5th for instance) and obviously ignoring the phenomenon of "shadowbanning" (this is a causation effect of bot auto-mods "banning" you without the permissions [99% of the time] to do so...leaving you both not in the know that you've been banned, but also leaving mods/admins at a disadvantage to help you, since most indicators that it's happening don't inform them of incidents or have obscured the entire thing beyond their ability to actually do anything about it...it's essentially cyber obsufacation. The term has had fluid diversity of late, but originally it was a take on Yu-Gi-Oh's version of it, aka: banished to the shadow realm. I find it fitting) and it's gaggle of new fuckery, and Reddit itself can no longer give a shit about it's actual user base since they are beholden to the shareholders they now serve. The whole entire bot issue isn't really anything new to most long time internet users (such as myself who uses ancient accounts, such as Yahoo, to avoid most modern bot bloodhounds that want to molest my algorithm, with the unintended side effect of appearing to be "invisible" with a vast majority of what l do peruse on the internet...though the invisibility works both ways and limits my overall interactions out of caution of being shadowbanned...which in itself should be highly illegal, but that's another matter) who can pretty much spot a bot account at a glance, apparently everyone else is just getting up to speed with it, but l digress
If Yandex wasn't housing entire bot civilizations, then how do you explain the clearly obvious "clear skies" of internet usage we're experiencing right now? If it were China/NK/salty elves nothing would be different at all. Yet here we are able to conversate without hordes of down votes and unnecessary noise flooding topics , so if it looks like a duck...
1
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 11m ago
Whew! You seem to have thought about this for a while there my guy. You’re teachin’ and preachin’. That point about Yahoo email you brought up makes me realize that I’m as exposed as exposed can be! I had a feeling Reddit wasn’t that much better since it’s under Condé Nast. I’m not gonna be here too long either way. I sparsely read about Auto-mods, shadow banning etc. In the past but didn’t do a deeper dive in the inner workings of this site tbh. Slowly shutting down this medium soon is a goal of mine because anything discussed here is used to create an online profile and is also searchable with AI tools. I’m uneasy with that notion and I sense too much bot noise as well.
1
u/FriendsGaming 5h ago
Right, NOW WHAT ABOUT THE AMERICAN BOTS TARGETING BRAZILIAN ELECTIONS?
1
u/CaLego420 4h ago
Dude, if you can provide even the faintest hint of corroboration, from anywhere but Twitter, l'd love to deep dive through that info...fun fact though: Americans give zero fucks about foreign elections 999/1000 times, so I'm doubtful to your claim...
1
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 3h ago
Nah, American public might not give a rats ass because we’re “the center of the universe” but our government has its own agendas. Brazil is infected with American bots to help swing things in favour of Trump’s homeboy whose son is running for the presidency while the other son is in the states doing the other part of the job.
1
u/CaLego420 3h ago
Shrug like l said look at the whole picture and not just a snapshot. What possible good would it do for your average American about a Brazilian election being won or lost by candidates whose names we don't even know?
I'm not arguing that you're wrong, you more then likely aren't, I'm just pointing out the pointlessnes of such a thing
3
3
3
u/havocbyday 8h ago
Yes. Look at Twitter and particularly what happened after Yandex got smoked. Hell, look what happened over at r/conservative after the event. Crazy reductions in activity.
3
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 7h ago
That’s what I had in mind when I made this general post. That Yandex story should be bigger imo.
3
3
u/Tragicallyhip204 6h ago
The lack of bot posts on here prove it
3
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 6h ago
Yeah as someone who’s not always on here. I’m glad I asked a rhetorical. There truly is a difference.
2
2
2
2
2
u/PostureKing180 8h ago
Not only North America, they've been doing this for ages in Europe, hell they regularly get caught trying to poison people over there.
2
u/HarEmiya 8h ago edited 8h ago
Yes, though not uniquely the US. They've been targeting European social media for the past 20 years, too.
Probably have their fingers in pies everywhere, but North America and Europe is where they need the most influence to undermine NATO.
1
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 8h ago
Why do you it’s so hard to fight back? Is it because of laws and democratic values?
2
u/Every-Golf-784 8h ago
https://www.youtube.com/e/2kkv7SHxofY this has been happening since the 60s my guy
1
1
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 8h ago
Yeah, I’m aware of this. Just wanted to get a feel for what this site is made off.
1
2
u/Hodler_caved 8h ago
Is this a post from 2015 back when there was actually still some doubt about this?
1
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 7h ago
It’s a post wondering why the hell this isn’t considered an act of war designed to undermine a country. A psyOp!
2
2
u/xandez36 8h ago
Bro, it’s not just Russia. China, India, Israel, our own government, the whole world is working overtime to influence us for political gain.
1
2
2
2
2
u/Long-Stomach-2738 8h ago
This has been known since Putin admitted it back in 2017.
Have you been living in a hole in a ground?!
0
u/PreacherVan 3h ago
Why do you have to be rude and angry to them?
1
u/Long-Stomach-2738 3h ago
There was nothing angry about that, I am astounded that OP is acting like they were born yesterday.
Stop getting offended on behalf of other people. If OP wants to stand up for himself he can
2
2
u/303FPSguy 8h ago
Is water wet?
Pope Catholic?
Do bears shit in the woods?
Do wet popes shit bears in the woods?
2
2
u/Key-Grand-329 8h ago
Russia definitely uses bots to push narratives online, but I wouldn’t assume the strikes automatically mean fewer propaganda accounts. A lot of the bot activity people track is just automated web traffic, so it’s hard to tell what actually changed
1
2
2
2
u/BloodyStupid_johnson 6h ago
r/conservative for one.
1
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 6h ago
I don’t really venture in those parts for fear of losing my humanity and ability to empathize with others. But glad it’s a bit quieter in there…until they’re plugged back in.
2
u/Rubydog2004 6h ago
The amount of Facebook profiles on local community pages with a few stock images on their profile is staggering.
2
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 6h ago
Facebook is only for Marketplace. Nothing else. It’s proper rubbish.
1
u/Rubydog2004 6h ago
Agreed I’d dump it in a second if it didn’t have marketplace
1
u/Wild-Perspective-582 5h ago
And Marketplace is more like the least-shit of all Meta's stuff rather than particularly outstanding
2
u/Meatroid 6h ago
They have been for decades. Literally decades. Also welcome to the internet! Watch you step!
1
2
2
2
u/AwarenessForsaken568 2h ago
Umm yes? This should be common knowledge at this point. Russia absolutely targets the US and Europe in all sorts of ways. We have decades of evidence. They're also involved in our politics, again, we have evidence of this.
The US government has concluded the same thing. China also does this. The US also does this. Most countries that can do this likely so it.
2
u/sharkbomb 2h ago
do some googling. there is conclusive proof of them using facebook and twitter for mass psyops over the last 20 years. don't forget israel. and then there arre the litany of self-identified conservative podcasters and bloggers that literally receive monthly checks and talking points from rt, such as tim poole.
1
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 35m ago
Ahh rt news with Abby Martin! I remember watching that channel for “alternative”news to our mainstream media in the west, back when Ukraine and Russia were at it in 2014. Glad we have independent media nowadays.
2
u/natural_disasterx 8h ago
I read the other day Ukraine bombed one of their data centers and the internet went quiet in the US on tRump and Iran war BS.
1
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 7h ago
That’s what I was mostly trying to see if it even registered on peoples radars on here or if it’s business as usual.
2
u/keyboardlegendthe3rd 8h ago
Does US deliberately kidnap Maduro cause we wanted to steal resources and help Israel, yes, yes we did
1
u/PretendIntention3388 8h ago edited 8h ago
Yes. Its a real problem. Their bot farms are so large they are almost 1/5th the size of Israel's.
1
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 7h ago
I didn’t know that they were that huge. Why do you think governments do not consider this as acts of war ?
2
u/PretendIntention3388 7h ago
Why was the USS Liberty attack not seen as an act of war?
Why was Epstein's Blackmail cartel not seen as an act of war.
Because we're occupied.
1
1
1
1
1
u/GatePorters 8h ago
Yeah, the US intelligence agencies have made many reports about this for the past 8-10 years.
The US made an entire new sector of Military Occupations to combat this new front of war. Cyberspace Intelligence.
It isn’t just North America, but basically all “Western” nations, including Australia and South Africa. Pretty much a global spread depending on the current state of affairs.
1
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 7h ago
Ahh good to know that a new sector spawned from this but at what point has this same sector been used for Domestic purposes? I feel like it’s just a variation on whatever the Patriot Act started.
1
u/KnittyBeard 8h ago
Where can you see the results? Check r/conservative. I hear it's a lot less active since the data center strike.
2
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 7h ago
Ahh that’s the type of insight I was looking for. I already knew the answer to my questions. Just wanted to see the extent at which most were up to date and aware. Thanks
1
1
1
1
u/Master-Leopard-7830 7h ago
It's safe to say they are pretty much targeting the entire Western sphere of influence.
1
1
1
u/Due_Satisfaction2167 7h ago
Yes. Extensively. Most of the current political spats are caused by the long tail effects of a decade or more of Russian social media actions.
1
u/1ndomitablespirit 7h ago
Everybody is targeting everyone online. They're doing it, we're doing it, others are doing it, and we slurp up all the propaganda that makes us happy and complacent.
1
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 7h ago
I think the US government ( individuals and families who truly hold the power) can’t afford to lose their most prized military base and weapons research program and outpost (Israel). So they can AIPAC the hell out of the government without any real repercussions it seems.
1
1
u/No_Revenue323 7h ago
i saw fewer obvious spam accounts on twitter for like a week after those strikes, couldve been coincidence tho
1
1
1
u/Forikorder 3h ago
every country does things like that, its not about diluting blame its simply acknowledging reality, its naive to think that any country is innocent from meddling with election
russia specifically is much more aggressive in disinformation campaigns to tear apart the western democracies they see as enemies
and dont think they only target one side, its in their best interest to get BOTH sides as radical as possible, it makes them double down on the more extreme candidates like trump
0
u/excelsiorsbanjo 8h ago
Question 1: duh.
Question 2: don't know, don't care. When someone other than you who is qualified to make such an analysis makes such an analysis, I'm sure it will be easy to find.
0
u/mesoloco 8h ago
🤣🤣🤣 Yes! Russian propaganda has been targeting North America and Western European countries since the inception of the internet. Where have you been?
1
0
0
0
-1
u/the-ish-i-say 8h ago
We need Russian bots back. The dumb shit getting asked on Reddit today is exhausting.
0
u/DARTHPHANTOMNINJA 🤔 7h ago
The dumb shit people put up with in real life, will be the end of us. STFU
84
u/Important_Bag_6283 8h ago
Yes. 100%. That's why Trump became President in the first place.