Here are the assumptions I have about what's happening here.
But, the real question I have is: are these thoughts which have been influenced/crafted unbeknownst to me?
Pro tip where I attempt to bring awareness to my thoughts: look for the keyword "automatically" in my statements below.
1. These are pro-Trump sites. Perhaps the author filtered only these groups for their results? The takeaway is that I automatically think pro-Trump groups must be creating these fake accounts. Then, I automatically think "Russians!"
2. There is another article from the NYTimes on Hacker News right now (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21847051). It mentions a pro Falun Gong group behind it. I automatically think this must be a Chinese state funded group doing it to discredit Falun Gong.
This is an amazing bit of research and write up. And, could it be that not everything is what it seems here?
I recently heard a discussion from Ben Freeman on Terry Gross' Fresh Air (https://www.npr.org/2019/11/21/781579229/ukrainian-oligarchs...). Mr. Freeman is the director of the "Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy." His point was that Russia is actually pretty bad at interference, which is why we know about it. Everyone does it, and the Saudi's and Israel and Japan do it with much more class and craft. It makes me wonder whether these fake accounts come from who we think they do.
But, the real question I have is: are these thoughts which have been influenced/crafted unbeknownst to me?
Pro tip where I attempt to bring awareness to my thoughts: look for the keyword "automatically" in my statements below.
1. These are pro-Trump sites. Perhaps the author filtered only these groups for their results? The takeaway is that I automatically think pro-Trump groups must be creating these fake accounts. Then, I automatically think "Russians!"
2. There is another article from the NYTimes on Hacker News right now (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21847051). It mentions a pro Falun Gong group behind it. I automatically think this must be a Chinese state funded group doing it to discredit Falun Gong.
This is an amazing bit of research and write up. And, could it be that not everything is what it seems here?
I recently heard a discussion from Ben Freeman on Terry Gross' Fresh Air (https://www.npr.org/2019/11/21/781579229/ukrainian-oligarchs...). Mr. Freeman is the director of the "Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy." His point was that Russia is actually pretty bad at interference, which is why we know about it. Everyone does it, and the Saudi's and Israel and Japan do it with much more class and craft. It makes me wonder whether these fake accounts come from who we think they do.