this post was submitted on 27 Jan 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.
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Same as instance rules, plus:
- No disinformation
- Posts must be relevant to the topic of astroturfing, propaganda and/or disinformation
Related websites
- EU vs Disinfo
- FactCheck.org
- PolitiFact
- Snopes
- Media Bias / Fact Check
- PEN America
- Media Matters
- FAIR
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He conveniently left out that Rader was former Air Force and a devout Christian. That last part is actually how he got caught (by using the church’s PC to write his letters taunting the police and sending them a floppy).
Another thing that separates Pretti and Rader: Dennis Rader is fucking still alive.
If you said he was skilled soldier, loved his wife, went to church, good father. The right would say ah yes perfect.
You saying he was caring, a good nurse, kind, went on walks with his dog. They have a fit. Why?
I think it's because they're fine with somebody being painted as a good person, as long as a good person means good citizen, a loyal citizen. They don't like hearing how someone was actually a good person. They don't like someone's moral character being brought into it, probably due to a complete lack of their own.
If this were reddit, I'd give you gold
Compare and contrast this with the total glazing of Charlie Kirk after he got killed. Anyone who said anything negative about him was immediately dogpiled and doxxed.
Piece of shit racist hatemonger gets the deference but an actual good person and hero is called a terrorist. These conservative chucklefucks have given up any right to be taken seriously.
is he really saying "well Hitler drank water too"
Yeah, that's essentially it. It's a false equivalence based on irrelevant circumstantial similarities.
This is Newsmax so the bar is exceedingly low. Beneath the floorboards.
I dunno if his argument works; for example, Greg Kelly would instantly become a superior person if he OD'd on IV Drain-o.
What else do you expect from newsmax?
At this point, it seems to be the only cable news outlet that has the requisite total lack of self-respect needed to participate in the administration's character assassination schtick when it comes to Pretti.
When not even Fox News is prepared to stoop so low, you know you've left every pretense of being an actual news organization far behind.
Fox can’t foot the bill for another lie
It's basically Comedy Central v.2
That take is beyond messed up.
Guy was shot dead by ICE officers for the crime of helping a fellow protestor that had been knocked-down by an ICE officer.
There shouldn't be enough money in the world to pay someone to spout this sub-human take comparing him to a horrifically vile serial killer, yet here we are.
Anyone who can agree with this unironically is indoctrinated beyond repair, or also being paid off. I refuse to believe otherwise.
That right there is how the nihilism of capitalism works.
Good has the same value as nothing if the market needs it to be so.
Everybody liked him. His mother liked him. All that stuff.
I can see why you consider those unusual qualities, Greg
Growing up I always figured blatant lies and propaganda had a very limited if at all effective reach. People couldn’t be that willfully stupid. Oh, how I have been disillusioned…
If you're a Boy Scout you're a SERIAL KILLER!
-Republicans LITERALLY!
Newsmax making severe dementia patients their hosts seems on brand.
It plays well for their severe dementia base.
It makes them "relatable".
Denis Rader isn't even dead.
Is he trying to suggest that the only reason why Dennis Rader is considered a "bad guy" is because he's a Republican?
Is that your 'freedom of speech', America?
This right there should land you in jail.
There is no reality where repeating state propaganda lands you in jail, unless maybe you do it in some way the state doesn't like. Government censorship can't solve this problem, it can only make it worse.
Your freedom ends where the freedom of others begins.
This is pure and obvious defamation and is illegal in many civilized countries. That's how it has to be.
Only in the US people are so obsessed with 'free speech' that they actively protect hate speech.
Without this delusional interpretation of 'free speech', what Trump is doing most of the time wouldn't be acceptable or possible.
Of course it is too late when you already have a fascist, authoritarian government.
But to such a government it doesn't matter anyway. They will do whatever the fuck they want. They will introduce new laws if they feel like it. Putin had no problem to introduce a law which effectively lands you in jail for calling the war in Ukraine a war.
So I don't buy the implication that even hate speech has to be protected as free speech because the government could abuse it. The real world shows us very clearly that such governments do whatever they like, so that's just propaganda and wishful thinking at best.
But to such a government it doesn’t matter anyway. They will do whatever the fuck they want. They will introduce new laws if they feel like it.
They need to entirely trash the constitution and effectively dissolve the US republic first. Maybe they're heading that way, but it is a barrier, and the lack of ambiguity of
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
is the whole substance of that barrier. If you think an exception for hate speech isn't something that can be abused, look at all the countries right now criminalizing protest of the Palestinian genocide using it as legal justification. Think about the entire situation that is prompting these killings; we have clear legal rights to peaceful protest, and people are exercising those rights, for which they aren't arrested and charged with speech crimes but killed outright in profound contempt for the law, because they don't have a legal process to silence them, just the ability to kill people. This is exactly when we need free speech the most, and it makes very little sense to fantasize about removing it so you can silence others when you are the one whose speech is in dire need of protecting right now.
Not American but I'll throw my hat in.
Look at what constantly fantasizing about "freedom of speech" have brought in America. All sorts of hateful speech that ultimately led to the nullification of the idea of freeze peach itself, starting with examples like ICE and the attempts to take down comedians like Jimmy Kimmel... Exactly what dictatorships do.
The 1st amendment experiment has failed. It died miserably.
Now I'm not saying it's time to accept unchecked government censorship, but maybe that next time after you resist and defeat it (if that ever happens, Belarus has been under Lukashenko's grip for over 30 years, right, and that's just one dictatorial country), don't worship freedom of speech to the point where you are too crippled from taking actions against scum who will take it away from you as soon as conveniently possible.
It's under clear attack, but is not yet nullified. I already touched on this but the examples you cite are exactly where it's doing what it is mean to; the clear illegality of these things is something people can recognize, and courts still have power. As an American, I'll say that this is the only civic principle with any sort of universal recognition that matters, and it is the biggest thing holding the country back from collapse. What else do we have? Surely not a sense that human beings should be treated with care and respect. If freedom of speech ceases to exist, so does the United States; we must never let it go.
Sorry, you are not making any sense to my little European brain.
You can see how the current US government is doing whatever the fuck they want, right? You can see that for Trump the constitution means absolutely nothing except when it benefits him or his narrative, right? How the POTUS controlling the SCOTUS leads to a situation where there are no consequences for them?
You can see that your interpretation of free speech is being abused constantly and benefits those who have money and spread misinformation and hate, right?
I have no idea what western, civilized countries you are talking about where you apparently are not allowed to protest - you can't possibly think this is a worse situation than what you have in the US.
And mind you there are tons of pro Palestine protests in countries I have on my radar. The only thing that's not allowed is glorifying the attack of the Hamas on Jewish people.
But yes, I am not saying there is no way to abuse this. Given a government which is shitty enough and courts which are not independent, obviously it can be abused.
But in no shape or form is it worse than the free speech interpretation in the US, where defamation, hate and lies are literally constantly spread by those with enough power and reach.
This 100% enabled Trump and the disgrace you call 'political debate' over there - which is nothing but political mudslinging non stop.
So yes, I think the small chance of hate speech exceptions being abused is absolutely worth the upsides.
For a while, folks on lemmy were posting newsmax in the politics and news communities, as if they were offering proper articles unavailable elsewhere. Glad we’re past that.
Absolutely repulsive, but par for the course with "News"max
Greg Kelly looks like shit, damn. Man used to have a little drip. Hate eats you up smdh.
Dennis Rader, the BTK killer, was all those things. Dennis Rader, remember him? He's the beat, bind, torture and kill guy.
Wouldn’t that be the BBTK killer? Do you stutter?
Why are you adding more letters? He didn’t beat people. “Bind them. Torture them. Kill them.”
He also liked wearing Brassieres. BBBTK