567
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by Buttflapper@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

Social media platforms like Twitter and Reddit are increasingly infested with bots and fake accounts, leading to significant manipulation of public discourse. These bots don't just annoy users—they skew visibility through vote manipulation. Fake accounts and automated scripts systematically downvote posts opposing certain viewpoints, distorting the content that surfaces and amplifying specific agendas.

Before coming to Lemmy, I was systematically downvoted by bots on Reddit for completely normal comments that were relatively neutral and not controversial​ at all. Seemed to be no pattern in it... One time I commented that my favorite game was WoW, down voted -15 for no apparent reason.

For example, a bot on Twitter using an API call to GPT-4o ran out of funding and started posting their prompts and system information publicly.

https://www.dailydot.com/debug/chatgpt-bot-x-russian-campaign-meme/

Example shown here

Bots like these are probably in the tens or hundreds of thousands. They did a huge ban wave of bots on Reddit, and some major top level subreddits were quiet for days because of it. Unbelievable...

How do we even fix this issue or prevent it from affecting Lemmy??

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] YeetPics@mander.xyz 42 points 2 months ago

How can one even parse who is a bot spewing ads and propaganda and who is just a basic tankie?

They both get the same scripts.. it's an impossible task.

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 months ago

Easy solution, report bad content. It doesn't matter if it's a bot or a tankie.

[-] YeetPics@mander.xyz 5 points 2 months ago

Report a tankie-post in a tankie-sub and watch as nothing happens.

Those mods love it when the correct genocide happens.

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 2 points 2 months ago

This is wrong, silencing is not right. We live in a free society, and if they are shiti organic like the rest of us, then they should be entitled to express their opinion... they start doing genocide apologizing which where that convo ends every single time.

[-] Crashumbc@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

Just because it's not a bot, doesn't mean it's free expression. Several governments are paying thousands of people to push and argue propaganda.

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org -1 points 2 months ago

If a person is ID as a bad a faith actor, then it is a different situation

[-] YeetPics@mander.xyz 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I can think of 4 users from memory who are outspoken propaganizers.

They're the champions of hexbear and .ml

They each post about every 90 minutes on average

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org -1 points 2 months ago

I can't tell if ml tankies are a foreign threat actors tbh

They seem to engage but it is pretty easy to test limits of what they will discuss. They will revert back to copy pasting some poorly sourced bullshit about USSR great 🤡

They don't spam it, so I am assuming real people sitting in a weird ideological box.

If they take Russian money to do thisz they'd hould be banned

We recently had a thread about some alt right clown taking russian money for their "work"

Regime whores don't get second chances IMHO

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago

I'm not saying they should be immediately silenced, but they should be reported. The moderators can then look at their post history and decide whether to ban based on instance/community rules.

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 0 points 2 months ago

Report for express tankie opinion or commie genocide denials?

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

Hopefully, we pick decent enough admins and mods that we'll generally do the latter. But the former can be really annoying as well when it involves denying other facts.

[-] nadram@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Other than the political misinformation, dangerous comments must be silenced, like ones recommending we drink bleach to heal ourselves... just an example. Free speech is not an open invitation to lie, misinform, incite wanton violence etc... The limit to free speech is that line beyond which we cause harm.

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org -1 points 2 months ago

People repost fake news around here that fo all these things but because it is part of the political "process" we say that's fine 🤡

[-] KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 2 months ago

nothing wrong with tankies, they just need to speak better LMAO.

this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2024
567 points (96.2% liked)

Technology

59244 readers
2791 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS