What's crazy is how complicit platforms themselves are in this behavior.
It's not just Russian political bots, but a good chunk of things you see on social platforms are driven entirely by offshore content farms - China, India, Philippines, etc. Not just the content - but the likes, shares, clicks, etc might all be generated in an attempt to "arbitrage" ad networks.
It's not just that platforms know about this, they are financially dependent on it - which makes it really easy for political agents to hide in the mess.
sleepyguy•26m ago
Yesterday during a live stream I watch (that covers the Russian war against Ukraine), it was very noticeable that the comment section was much quieter. Very few antagonistic posts and about a 50% drop in comments.
I hope Ukraine eliminates Yandex entirely and at the same time cuts Russia off from the Internet. Not even the the 50 cent army is as bad.
legitster•29m ago
It's not just Russian political bots, but a good chunk of things you see on social platforms are driven entirely by offshore content farms - China, India, Philippines, etc. Not just the content - but the likes, shares, clicks, etc might all be generated in an attempt to "arbitrage" ad networks.
It's not just that platforms know about this, they are financially dependent on it - which makes it really easy for political agents to hide in the mess.