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NATO bots account for 90% of the bot posts on the Ukraine war (hexbear.net)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by TankieTanuki@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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https://theprint.in/tech/60-80-of-twitter-accounts-posting-on-russia-ukraine-war-bots-90-pro-ukraine-finds-new-study/1114878/

The study is from 2022.

Bot accounts were identified using Indiana University’s Botometer — a software which helps identify a bot account.

Twitter changed its API on 2023-03-31 and made the Botometer no longer able to function.

According to the researchers, 90.16 per cent of the accounts tweeting on the Russia-Ukraine war were “pro Ukraine” and only 6.80 per cent were “pro Russia”.

The pro-Russian humans were the most convincing and influential cohort.

“The ‘ProRussia Not Bot’ account group has the largest outward information flows and significant flows to a range of other groups, having a positive information flow into both ‘ProUkraine’ and “Balanced” account groups, observed the researchers.

This means genuine pro-Russia users have the ability to influence more users on Twitter than genuine users who are pro-Ukraine.

IMO this is likely because they know facts which most people have been shielded from due to the strict, authoritarian censorship regimes imposed by Western countries, which they excuse as "combating Russian propaganda". Liberals don't actually know things.

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[-] BeanisBrain@hexbear.net 52 points 3 months ago

It turns out the whole "Russian bots" thing was projection all along

[-] Frogmanfromlake@hexbear.net 22 points 3 months ago

Funnier that they still say this as Israeli bots continue to poison the internet

[-] brachiosaurus@mander.xyz 12 points 3 months ago

It's not projection it's propaganda

[-] InexplicableLunchFiend@hexbear.net 18 points 3 months ago

Yes you always accuse the enemy of what you're doing to muddy the water. It's a very effective tactic. Makes most observers shrug their shoulders and go "both sides bad"

[-] brachiosaurus@mander.xyz 0 points 3 months ago

No, you accuse the enemy to make people believe that the enemy side is bad not that both side are bad. If you believe your side is not bad and that your government is not rigged as fuck i'm afraid you are right under the effect of propaganda.

[-] InexplicableLunchFiend@hexbear.net 5 points 3 months ago

If you are implying that any other nation on earth is as bad as the United States of America and its vassals (Israel, Ukraine, etc) then you are simply wrong. Your duty is to oppose your own empire not “both sides bad”

[-] brachiosaurus@mander.xyz 0 points 3 months ago

Your duty is to oppose your own empire not “both sides bad”

People duty is to oppose any empire and any scum, not to pick the lesser evil side.

[-] InexplicableLunchFiend@hexbear.net 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

There is only one empire on Earth right now and it’s the one you are part of. We live in a unipolar world, you must oppose the one and only empire.

Furthermore, even if that wasn’t the case and there were competing empires your first and foremost duty is against the one you reside in. Otherwise your “anti-empire” stance against enemies only reinforces the warmongering of your own.

I implore you to research the concept of Revolutionary Defeatism. If you do not follow it, you are a social chauvinist and not an ally of the international working class

[-] brachiosaurus@mander.xyz 1 points 3 months ago

There is only one empire on Earth right now and it’s the one you are part of. We live in a unipolar world, you must oppose the one and only empire.

Use your brain and stop thinking through slogans

[-] InexplicableLunchFiend@hexbear.net 3 points 3 months ago

Ok chauvinist. You are an enemy of the global working class if you cannot identify the imperialist core as your enemy

[-] TreadOnMe@hexbear.net 45 points 3 months ago

I hate that just having a basic understanding of global geopolitics makes this incredibly easy to predict.

[-] CrawlMarks@hexbear.net 40 points 3 months ago

It is safe to assume every accusation is a confession at this point.

[-] 3rdWorldCommieCat@hexbear.net 26 points 3 months ago

Always has been.

[-] happybadger@hexbear.net 36 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Imagine being seduced into a war by a reddit chatbot, only to be blown up for a video that the reddit chatbots mock/use to enlist more mercenaries. The digital side of this war has been so stupid.

edit: And I guarantee those chatbot accounts will be sold to something like gambling companies the moment the war is over. At best they're State Department accounts that will be used to generically sell future wars, but the chatbot grim reaper is going to be selling FartCoin and doing romance scams because it has an established posting history.

[-] TankieTanuki@hexbear.net 22 points 3 months ago

seduced into a war

Are you talking about the people who fly to Ukraine to enlist in the AFU?

[-] happybadger@hexbear.net 20 points 3 months ago

Yep. There's also the secondary level of the people who use those videos as hopium while funding the deaths of more Ukrainians. They would be the mercenaries being blown up in the videos, but it's just a parasocial psychosexual thing.

[-] Frogmanfromlake@hexbear.net 11 points 3 months ago

I actually met someone who wanted to do it. They were trans too and said they had a desire to “kill facists”

[-] TankieTanuki@hexbear.net 10 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

They might could do that if they fragged their Azov Brigade commander

[-] TreadOnMe@hexbear.net 9 points 3 months ago

Yeah, I had a buddy who wanted to do that. I immediately flicked him in the head and was like "You are now a red mist. Wasn't that a fun adventure?"

[-] 30_to_50_Feral_PAWGs@hexbear.net 21 points 3 months ago

surprised-pika

[-] LeninWeave@hexbear.net 16 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

This means genuine pro-Russia users have the ability to influence more users on Twitter than genuine users who are pro-Ukraine.

IMO this is likely because they know facts which most people have been shielded from due to the strict, authoritarian censorship regimes imposed by Western countries, which they excuse as "combating Russian propaganda". Liberals don't actually know things.

That's also the category almost all the communists ended up in lol. It turns out having a materialist analysis that actually explains why things happen is compelling to others.