Lemmy is immune to this, right? Riiiight?

With the knowledge/reports that this was going on by Russia in the 2016 election (reports dropped during the election cycle) with suggestions that other countries were likely doing the same, I am not surprised. Hell, it was exposed that even the Trump campaign had their own “grass roots astroturfing troll farm” division.

It’s made me incredibly skeptical of posters. But it’s not too hard to spot potential trolls. I’m also sure there’s those that operate in a far more subtle way that even my skepticism doesn’t capture.

I wish the communities here had better rules in place to mitigate this. But the rules tend to lean towards “benefit of the doubt” instead of a harder line on dis-incentivizing this from happening throughout our moderated communities. Maybe part of that is a limitation of Lemmy MOD Tools, but another part is definitely a lack of stronger definitions and enforcement of disallowed behavior (bad faith arguments) and enforcement of those rules.

When analysts first noticed Spamouflage five years ago, the network tended to post generically pro-China, anti-American content. In recent years, the tone sharpened as Spamouflage expanded and began focusing on divisive political topics like gun control, crime, race relations and support for Israel during its war in Gaza. The network also began creating large numbers of fake accounts designed to mimic American users.

Spamouflage accounts don’t post much original content, instead using platforms like X or TikTok to recycle and repost content from far-right and far-left users. Some of the accounts seemed designed to appeal to Republicans, while others cater to Democrats.

You mean I could be getting paid to shit on the diseased lump that is the US political system? Hit me up, Xi

Priming the pump for someone to blame when Democrats lose in November?