Sockpuppets and Spambots: How states manipulate social networks

[TomCADem]

It is primary time, and expect social media to explode with threads filled with various keywords designed to attack Democratic candidates from the "left" such as DLC, Third-Way, Clintonista, Neoliberal, Neocon, DINO, corporatist, etc. complete with hashtags.

Here is a nice article that fleshes out the various types of disimformation campaign techniques from spambots to sock puppets. Educate yourself and be wary of attacks on Democrats from the left, particularly if they have an odd tendency to ignore the actions of Trump and Republicans.

Remember the Sane Progressive from the 2016 campaign who allegedly supported Bernie Sanders against Hillary Clinton. Her Youtube channel has since been deleted, but right after the election, rather than focus on Trump, as you would expect a progressive to do, the Sane Progressive began a pro-Russia, anti-Mueller campaign and somehow managed to ignore the Trump administration's attacks on civil rights, the environment, and worker's rights. It is too bad she deleted her channel, because she was a great example of disinformation campaign that became apparent once the election ended.

https://medium.com/meedan-updates/sockpuppets-and-spambots-how-states-manipulate-social-networks-c77ecdc46e0a

If you’re a user of a major social network, chances are at some point in time you’ve been friended, followed or mentioned by a suspicious-looking account. They probably tried to sell you something or get you to click a link, and you were probably able to spot the fake and avoid the trap: it’s not tough to avoid eggs on Twitter spitting out nonsense content or bikini-clad strangers who add you out of the blue on Facebook. While you have likely seen these kind of accounts before, what you may not know is the scale of the social media fakes: Facebook reportedly has around 170 million known fake accounts, and Twitter may have as many as 20 million fakes. Whole industries exist around creating and selling such accounts.

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Over the past 12 months or so, there have been numerous reports written about sockpuppets and bot armies with seemingly strong links to the Russian government. From Lawrence Alexander’s excellent analysis and tracking of Russian botnets to Adrian Chen’s in-depth look at the activities of one so-called “troll factory” in St. Petersburg, it’s clear that there is much to be studied.

From Chen’s work, there emerges an interesting counterpoint to the bot-driven hashtag attacks observed in Mexico (as well as in Russia and elsewhere): elaborate misinformation campaigns that require significant human time and effort.

Chen tells of the panic and confusion in the Louisiana town of St. Mary Parish when, on September 11, 2014, a local official receives a text message informing him of an explosion at one of the town’s chemical processing plants, Columbian Chemicals, and the leaking of toxic fumes. On Twitter, word of the explosion was already spreading.

[Dennis Donovan]

1. I used DLC today.

They were a real, destructive thing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Leadership_Council#Criticism

Criticism
The DLC has become unpopular within many progressive and liberal political circles such as the organizations Democracy for America, and the blog MyDD.

Some critics claim the strategy of triangulation between the political left and right to gain broad appeal is fundamentally flawed. In the long run, so opponents say, this strategy has resulted in concession after concession to the opposition and promotion of a free-market economic agenda favorable to corporations and entrepreneurs, including those seeking to privatize public services, while alienating traditionally-allied voters and working-class people.

Other critics cite that the low turnout of organized labor in the 1994 election after Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement into law resulted in the Republican Party gaining a majority in the 1994 House of Representatives elections and 1994 Senate elections that would last for twelve years until 2006.

Author and columnist David Sirota has strongly criticized the DLC, who he claims have sold out to corporate interests. In 1980, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) founded the Democratic Business Council to compete with the Republican National Committee for donations from businesses and corporations. Sirota has also argued that the term "centrist" is a misnomer in that these politicians are out of touch with public opinion. Sirota's article "The Democrats' Da Vinci Code" argues that truly progressive politicians are more successful in so-called "red states" than the mainstream media have previously reported.

Others contend that the DLC's distaste for what they refer to as "economic class warfare" has allowed the language of populism to be monopolized by the right-wing. Many argue that the Democrats' abandonment of populism to the right-wing, shifting the form of that populism from the economic realm to the "culture wars", has been critical for Republican dominance of Middle America. (See, for instance, Thomas Frank's What's the Matter with Kansas?.)

Still other critics believe the DLC has essentially become an influential corporate and right-wing implant in the Democratic party. Marshall Wittmann, a former senior fellow at the DLC, former legislative director for the Christian Coalition, and former communications director for Republican senator John McCain, and Will Marshall, a vocal supporter of the war in Iraq, are among those associated with the DLC who have right-wing credentials.

Finally, detractors of the DLC note that the DLC has received funding from the right-wing Bradley Foundation as well as from oil companies, military contractors, and various Fortune 500 companies. However, the DNC proper has also benefited from funding by corporations like these via the Democratic Business Council.

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[Fiendish Thingy]

2. Yes, sometimes a hashtag is simply a hashtag

And not the work of bots and shills.

That is part of the evil design of bots and shills- to get otherwise reasonable people to suspect the motives and sincerity of other reasonable people.

[TomCADem]

3. Except That The Tags Are Often Just Used to Slander Democrats With Little...

...in the way of analysis. It is one thing to talk about the actual DLC, which you do above. But honestly, how often is DLC used in the manner described.

Typically, you have a post that is critical of a Democratic candidate. Then you have a bunch of one line posts followed by DLC, Third Way, Neoliberal, Neconservative, Corporatist, etc., with little in the way of analysis or discussion.

This is great for keeping attacks from the "left" on progressive candidates alive, but does little to promote a discussion or understanding of candidates.

Conversely, you sometimes have an actual analysis of a candidate's qualifications, but then it is shouted down with one line posts of "Hater!" or "The NY Times/CNN/Washington Post is corporatist fake news!"

So, absent an actual discussion of a candidate's positions or votes, folks should be cautious about buying into such social media attacks directed at Democrats from the "left." If you see someone posting hundred posts 24/7, then be suspicious about a possible paid sock puppet, because real people have lives and jobs. If you see the liberal use of one the buzzword attacks in one line posts with little in the way of actual discussion, chances are that this is just a troll operation.