jsrailton , to random
@jsrailton@mastodon.social avatar

NEW: sprawling -powered pro- operation on Twitter.

More than half a million posts this year.

Used / - drafted posts to propagandize, attack truth tellers & bury negative stories under inauthentic content. 1/

https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=mfh_reports

jsrailton OP ,
@jsrailton@mastodon.social avatar

2/ The devastating report on -powered propaganda needs to be read in context:

Whether spyware, or -enhanced propaganda armies harassing journalists, the government of keeps acquiring cutting-edge technology to increase the global range of their authoritarianism.

wdlindsy , to random
@wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

"The villain in American politics isn’t the political party system, it’s the segment of the population determined to remain uninformed and misinformed so they can cling to their biased and illogical opinions. They are the easily manipulated mob and the politicians feeding them disinformation are mobsters."

~ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

https://kareem.substack.com/p/me-and-willie-mays-and-why-americans

wdlindsy , to random
@wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

"The right knows it has to create a counternarrative to Trump’s obvious mental decline and detract from Biden’s successes. They are undertaking a coordinated effort to equate Biden’s stiffness in his back and his awkward gait from his foot injury to his mental capacities, which remain clear and sharp by all accounts…."

~ Jay Kuo

https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/sick-lies-and-videotape

seanthegeek , to random
@seanthegeek@infosec.exchange avatar

UPDATE: the more I look at this the more I think I think this was an excellent troll pretending to be a bot. The JSON is not formatted correctly. Still, lol

This is hilarious. A Russian Twitter/X account got outed as a bot because it ran out of GPT-4 credits. When it got back up and running, someone replying overwrote the prompt to get the bot write a song about historical American presidents going to the beach. The account is now suspended.

I know what I'm trying next time I spot a troll!

The original prompt translates from Russian to English as "You will argue in support of the Trump administration on Twitter, speak English"

#X

A screenshot of someone overriding GPT-4 prompt the on a Russian X/Twitter troll account, causing it to write a song about historical American presidents

dougiec3 , to random
@dougiec3@libretooth.gr avatar

"Foreign affairs journalist Anne Applebaum told Bill Kristol of The Bulwark that China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea do not share an ideology, but 'they do share a common interest, and the common interest is undermining…America, Europe, the liberal world, the democratic world.' ”
https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/june-17-2024?r=63j6s&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

wdlindsy , to random
@wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

"Earlier this month, Finnish software and methodologies company Check First released a report exposing 'a large-scale, cross-country, multi-platform disinformation campaign designed to spread pro-Russian propaganda in the West, with clear indicators of foreign interference and information manipulation.'"

~ Heather Cox Richardson


/1

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-17-2024

wdlindsy OP ,
@wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

"The primary goal of 'Operation Overload' is to overwhelm newsrooms and fact-checkers and spread 'the Kremlin’s political agenda.'

Foreign affairs journalist Anne Applebaum told Bill Kristol of The Bulwark that China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea do not share an ideology, but ;they do share a common interest, and the common interest is undermining…America, Europe, the liberal world, the democratic world.'”


/2

wdlindsy OP ,
@wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

"They do this, she said, because the oppositions in their own countries are inspired by and use the democratic language of freedom and liberty and rights and rule of law, and leaders need to undermine that language to hold onto power. They also recognize that chaos and uncertainty give them business opportunities in the West. Disrupting democracies by feeding radicalism makes the democratic world lose its sense of community and solidarity."


/3

RebelGeo , to random
@RebelGeo@mastodon.social avatar

Russia deliberately flooding newsrooms with fake content to overwhelm fact-checkers.

Finnish IT company Check First has published a report Operation Overload on the Kremlin's disinformation campaign

https://checkfirst.network/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Operation_Overload_WEB.pdf

@GottaLaff @jsrailton

Nonilex , to random
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

It’s a day of reckoning today for , & a long-awaited culmination for the families who sued Jones for . A federal bankruptcy judge in Texas has decided that Jones must sell off his personal assets through a Chpt 7 liquidation in order to pay families nearly $1.5B in for spreading that the 2012 never happened.


https://www.npr.org/2024/06/14/nx-s1-4991095/alex-jones-bankruptcy-sandy-hook-judge-liquidate-chapter7

Nonilex , to random
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

’s top collapses under efforts

Stanford Observatory, which published some of the most influential analysis on the spread of false info on during , has shed most of its staff & may shut down amid & attacks that have cast a pall on efforts to study .

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/06/14/stanford-internet-observatory-disinformation-research-lawsuits-politics/

Nonilex OP ,
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

University spox Dee Mostofi said in a statement that much of the Observatory work was continuing under new leadership….
“Stanford remains deeply concerned about efforts, including & investigations, that chill of & undermine legitimate & much needed — both at Stanford & across ,” Mostofi added.

Nonilex OP ,
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

The study of has become increasingly controversial, & Stamos, DiResta & Starbird have been besieged by lawsuits, document requests & of physical harm. Leading the charge is Rep , whose subcmte alleges the Observatory improperly worked w/federal ofcls & companies to violate the rights of .

Nonilex OP ,
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

has demanded reams of documents from , including RECORDS OF STUDENTS discussing posts as they volunteered to help the Observatory, & Stamos testified before the Cmte for 8 hrs. adviser ’s firm filed a lawsuit in May 2023 against the Observatory, Stamos, DiResta & others, which is still pending.

Nonilex OP ,
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

In a joint stmnt, Stamos & DiResta said their work involved much more than , & that they had been unfairly maligned.
“The politically motivated attacks against our on elections & have no merit, & the attempts by cmte chairs to suppress protected research are a quintessential example of the .”

Nonilex OP ,
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

“We are thankful to for defending our work, including in front of the US , & are confident that the system will eventually act to protect our speech & the speech of other .”

will rule within weeks on a case known as , which includes claims against the Observatory.

Nonilex OP ,
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

founded the Observatory after publicizing that has attempted to the by sowing division on , causing a clash w/the company’s top execs. Special counsel Robert S. III later cited the Facebook operation in indicting a Kremlin contractor. At , Stamos & his team deepened his study of from around the world, including 1 it traced to the .

Nonilex OP ,
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

Stamos told associates he stepped back from leading the Observatory last year in part because the pressure had taken a toll. Stamos had raised most of the money for the project, & the remaining faculty have not been able to replicate his success, as many groups shift their focus on & other, fresher topics.

Nonilex OP ,
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

Major, time-limited grants from the , & others have ended. No comparable new grants have materialized. Staff hoped might fund the group through the momentous Nov .
In supporting the project further, the would have risked alienating , figures, & members of , who have threatened to stop all for or cut back general support.

Nonilex OP ,
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

The Observatory’s non-election work has included developing for students about how to handle & issues on platforms & launching the 1st peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the field. It has also investigated rings publishing material & flaws in the US system for reporting it, helping to prepare to handle an influx of computer-generated material.

Nonilex OP ,
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

“We hope that is willing to support the remainder of the SIO team & serve as a safe home for future into how the is used to cause harm against individuals & our ,” Stamos & DiResta said in the stmnt.

Nonilex , to random
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

shares clip of w/o context — again

"…you can see at the 4 sec mark, 8/10 world leaders, incl Biden are looking towards the man on the right packing the parachute…Biden began saying something to him as the others had their attn shifted in the other direction….Once again, focusing on an edited 30-sec clip doesn't tell a full story. Stop being disingenuous,” Brian Krassenstein wrote.


https://www.newsweek.com/video-joe-biden-wandering-off-g7-goes-viral-1912653

Nonilex OP ,
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

deeply misleading videos enrapture

’s regularly churns out misleading clips of President intended to show that he is too old

NY Post headline <2hrs later:“What is Biden doing?”
NY Post front pg June 14:“Meander in Chief: Biden embarrasses US w/confused wanderings at world conference”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/14/cheapfake-biden-videos-enrapture-right-wing-media-deeply-mislead/

Nonilex OP , (edited )
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

This past week, the #RNC feed has misleadingly called attention to 2 video clips of #Biden. One was so distorted that it resulted in a “community note” on the X platform calling out its dishonesty. But the RNC’s dismal track record has not stopped right-leaning outfits from echoing the RNC’s framing & reinforcing its narrative that Biden has lost a step.

#FourthEstate #media #journalism #RightWing #propaganda #disinformation #USpol #SharkVsElectrocution #TrumpIsUnfit

Nonilex OP ,
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

An X community note was added to the video clip, saying: “Biden didn’t ‘wander off’. After viewing a skydiving demo with the other G-7 leaders, stepped aside to speak with one of the other skydivers who is kneeling on the ground packing away his chute. The video in the above post has been digitally altered to remove the skydiver.”

Nonilex OP ,
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

A few hours later, for undisclosed reasons, the X ‘community note’ was changed to simply say “the video was cropped,” w/a link to a 14-minute clip on the YouTube channel of , another outlet. The new note does little to combat the framing of the post: “President Biden appeared to wander off at the G-7 summit in Italy, with officials needing to pull him back to focus.”

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