this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2026
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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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This is a real "AI" ad from the US government about the end of the mandatory use of the auto start-stop. (cdn.social.linux.pizza)
submitted 3 weeks ago by technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/fediverse_vs_disinfo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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This is a real "AI" ad from the US government about the end of the mandatory use of the auto start-stop.

This is from the official Whitehouse Instagram.

Only things I can see that gives it away that the video is generated is the red car's brake lights being on while accelerating. The obvious stereotypes of bule haired lesbians vs the blonde.

Also they have no insignias on the cars but that's definitely a Prius and idk what the red car is, the red car might not exist in real life.

Spoting generated videos is going to get harder. However if it's obvious propaganda from the state then you should be suspicious.

It's impressive for generated video even though it is stupid as fuck. I won't get too in the weeds about why this is stupid as the point of the post is more about the use of AI in state sponsored propaganda.

Just to get it out of the way, here is why this is a stupid policy:

  • [Auto stop helps fuel economy by 7% - 26%](https://www/. consumerreports.org/cars/fuel-economy-efficiency/does-start-stop-function-really-improve-cars-fuel-economy-a1028235974/)
  • my 10+ year old car has auto stop, it can be disabled with a button, and if it needs to turn on the ac, the engine will auto start.
  • Auto stop has nothing to do with the cost of cars increasing, it's the regime's terrible policies and other factors that have driven prices up.
  • Hybrid cars like the Prius will use the electric engine at a stop.
  • forcing car companies to change features because the US president said so will increase manufacturing costs and prices.

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[–] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I hate auto stop. Its just an excuse for automanfautures to produce larger vehicles while claiming better "fuel economy", but at the cost of higher maintenance. There should have been a push for hybirds and phev's which have far greater fuel economy without the negative maintenance costs.

[–] vatlark@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

~~There is some added complexity but the way they restart the engine without using the started motor pretty clever and avoids added wear on the starter motor. It's mostly just new software as far as I know.~~

I was wrong, looks like most of them do use the starter, even if they use a charge in the cylinder. https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15126526/engine-stop-start-technology/

[–] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Some will have beefier starters. Some just charge more for a longer warrenty and be exactly same as the non-stop-start models. (Which doesnt help when you get stranded and have to call for a tow)