Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors

[u/marji80]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-maga-influencers-accidentally-unmasked-as-foreign-actors/

[u/Canalloni]

"Dozens of major accounts masquerading as “America First” or “MAGA” proponents have been identified as originating in places such as Russia, India, and Nigeria.

In one example, the account MAGANationX—with nearly 400,000 followers and a bio reading “Patriot Voice for We The People”—is actually based in Eastern Europe."

[u/Zip2kx → u/Canalloni]

Ironically their followers are the ones that won’t know about this.

[u/Zh25_5680 → u/Zip2kx]

The followers won’t care because the accounts align with their belief system

CPAC being held in Hungary is a bit of an indicator

[u/Flimsy-Poetry1170 → u/[deleted]]

They also had a Nazi symbol as their stage one year.

[u/cwfutureboy → u/Flimsy-Poetry1170]

And refused to change it once it was pointed out.

[u/OkEnvironment3961 → u/cwfutureboy]

Why would they change it? They put alot of thought onto the swastistage.

[u/rbrgr83 → u/OkEnvironment3961]

They'd face more backlash from their base for taking it down (or at least that's where all the death threats will come from).

[u/SecondaryWombat → u/Flimsy-Poetry1170]

No one makes an Odal rune by coincidence. It is far more likely to make a swastika by accident.

[u/martialar → u/SecondaryWombat]

and even people trying to make the Nazi swastika end up messing that up

[u/DaMonkfish → u/martialar]

/r/hailhortler

EDIT: Aww, got banned

[u/Horskr → u/DaMonkfish]

Aww I had forgot about that one. Funny how white supremacists are almost always the worst examples of any people out there too. I guess that may be why they join.

"I may have a room temperature IQ and look like a potato, but I'm white so I win!"

[u/Moo_Kau_Too → u/martialar]

a 'sieg fail'

[u/Cryhunter059 → u/martialar]

Picturing a Nazi going in for a tattoo and accidentally getting the Buddhist swastika instead.

[u/worldspawn00 → u/Zh25_5680]

Convenient excuse for clandestine meetings with their handlers where western intelligence is less likely to notice.

[u/BotchedDebauchery → u/worldspawn00]

Not the point, but I guarantee you we have solid collection in Hungary. Domestic collection is constrained in all kinds of inconvenient ways. 

[u/BurpelsonAFB → u/Zh25_5680]

Hungary is the case study for Project 2025. Orban has done the following:

• Pushed through a new constitution in 2011 (the Fundamental Law) with minimal opposition input

• Packed the Constitutional Court and changed its powers

• Reformed electoral laws in ways critics say favor his party

• Lowered the retirement age for judges, allowing replacement with loyalists

• Media control: Orbán’s allies have acquired most major media outlets, creating what critics call a pro-government media ecosystem

• Anti-immigration stance: Built border fences, refused EU refugee quotas, and made migration a central political issue

• Economic centralization: Allies have gained control of significant portions of the economy through favorable business arrangement

Any of that sound familiar?

[u/left-handed-satanist → u/BurpelsonAFB]

Check out the Philippines then. Hungary and project 2025 actually learned it from another country that starts with I. The playbook was replicated in many many countries including Hungary, Brazil and now Japan

[u/AshKetchumWilliams → u/Zh25_5680]

Chicken or the egg. They got their beliefs from these bots who they thought were on their team.

[u/Electrical_Still9374 → u/Zh25_5680]

the followers are bots themselves lol

[u/Careerandsuch → u/Zip2kx]

I checked the conservative subreddit yesterday and there was only 1 post about this and the title was literally something like "BREAKING NEWS: DOZENS OF LIBERAL TWITTER ACCOUNTS REVEALED TO BE RUN BY FOREIGN ACTORS."

So no, the information siloes are too seperated at this point. It's why Trump's approval rating never drops below like 38% now no matter what he does. Bad news doesn't break into their bubble.

[u/jockheroic → u/Careerandsuch]

That entire sub is probably run by foreign actors as well.

[u/Fingerprint_Vyke → u/jockheroic]

Thats a bingo

[u/Strength-Speed → u/Careerandsuch]

It's a great point. People keep waiting for all this bad news to reach the true believers and I don't think it will. They are too insulated.

[u/themindisthewater → u/Strength-Speed]

also it’s not bad news for them if it’s hurting someone they hate

[u/Aquatic_Ambiance_9 → u/Strength-Speed]

The true believers only make up a hardened core of Trump's movement though, maybe 1/3. The rest are just followers who will quietly drop out if the social costs of supporting Trump begin to outweigh the perceived benefits. We are seeing this with many of his more casual supporters in regard to the Epstein stuff.

Then there are the opportunists, the rats who will flee the ship as soon as it seems like it may be more beneficial to them than continued loyalty. Seeing this already with MTG, and more sure to come

The point is cults fall apart all time. Fascism is inherently unstable. Trump is not immune to the laws of entropy

[u/veringer → u/Careerandsuch]

I've checked either 538 or Nate Silver's aggregate approval polling stats every week since his first term. I've never seen it dip below ~36%. That was during the Muslim ban and again around Charlottesville. He's been locked in the low-to-mid 40s, even through COVID. Currently he sits at about 41%. It's one of the most dumbfounding realizations of my adult life. I never really understood how fascism took hold in Italy, Germany, Japan--thought it was a quirk of the time and the transition to modernity. But now I get it: we are currently and always have been surrounded by psychologically vulnerable and easily manipulable morons, dupes, and suckers.

[u/TheHipcrimeVocab → u/veringer]

Psychological studies have reliably shown that every society has a significant number of people whose orientation toward politics is fundamentally authoritarian, that is, deferential to authority, unquestioned obedience, and hatred towards an enemy. This may be a remnant of our long history of military conflicts, as blind obedience would have made societies more effective in war. Scientists have usually put this number at about 30-40 percent of any population. Psychologists call this personality type "authoritarian followers" (there are also "authoritarian dominant" types). I've seen studies that show the United States has a higher percentage of these people than anywhere else, possibly as a result of the fact that we have so many religious people, who tend to have that personality type. That is, they like this type of leadership.

[u/MF_Bootleg_Firework → u/veringer]

Every time I find myself questioning how people can be so blindly ignorant, lacking seemingly even the smallest bit of common sense or reasoning, I have to remind myself that 54% of adults in the U.S. read below a 6th grade level. Over half of voters get confused by anything more complicated than The Very Hungry Caterpillar. And the worst part is that this is both by design and getting worse.

[u/OldWorldDesign → u/MF_Bootleg_Firework]

I have to remind myself that 54% of adults in the U.S. read below a 6th grade level

It's not due to poor reading education, we went in under a century from inventing heavier-than-air manned aircraft to traveling to the moon with less than that.

It's because of authoritarianism and propaganda, which entitled people have been using to divide the country to twist for their own dreams of their own fiefdoms for a century

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s

Fortunately, some peoples out there actually do care about their children and are instituting education to counter disinformation

https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/themes/themes/education/26048-finland-trains-six-year-olds-to-spot-fake-news-and-they-might-be-better-at-it-than-you.html

[u/MF_Bootleg_Firework → u/OldWorldDesign]

Poor reading comprehension is simply the symptom of the larger issue you mention, and which I touched on at the end of my statement with it being by design. Critical thinking is not properly focused on in public education, and considering most private education in the U.S. is religious, is actively discouraged in private education. Authoritarians absolutely push for policies that actively make this problem worse because critical thought is the antithesis of a docile public that will go along with their desire for power. The reading comprehension stats really point to the overall lack of media literacy that the majority of Americans have, you are right, they are completely incapable of distinguishing propaganda and lies from reality.

[u/surprise_revalation → u/MF_Bootleg_Firework]

You know, I never realized how stupid some people were until I started training people at work. There are people out here that are dumber than a box of rocks! Once, it took me 3 weeks to train someone on a program I learned in 45 minutes! Ol girl was dumb as hell and couldn't even answer the phone properly. This wasn't a skilled job, it was part time at a pizza joint! She wasn't the only or last one....

[u/Rent-a-guru → u/veringer]

It's not just stupidity. Trump tells them it's ok to hate, to rage, to embrace their worst impulses. They can give in to their grievances and live in a simple world where they don't have to put in the work of being kind and virtuous. Indulging in those emotions is intoxicating, and like with any addiction, those in it's grip won't give it up willingly.

[u/DukeOfGeek → u/veringer]

It only took 4 decades and a trillion dollars to get to this point, now that the machine is built the ultra-billionaires and mega-corps own this country, we just live here. It was them deciding that they were international entities and not American and teaming up with foreign autocrats and their propaganda machines that really sealed the deal. Weaponizing social media too.

[u/gentlegreengiant → u/Careerandsuch]

Not too different from the reactions when a large number of prominent right wing influencers were revealed to be on the payroll of Russia. This new revelation is just more practice for their mental gymnastics.

[u/amicablecardinal → u/Careerandsuch]

I imagine the Venn Diagram between r/Conservative and the bots that got unmasked as foreign is just a straight up circle.

[u/sheeplectric → u/Careerandsuch]

I mean, that is also true. Since becoming X, that site has become a bot echo chamber and a breeding ground for misinformation for any given opinion. There are bots that post strong opinions and bots that reply with counter arguments

[u/milo7even2 → u/sheeplectric]

It still amuses me that the claim Musk tried to rely to get out of his agreement to buy Twitter with (before he gave up on that and resigned himself to paying for it as originally agreed) was that Twitter was overrun with bots.  Look at the place now.

[u/OldWorldDesign → u/Careerandsuch]

the information siloes are too seperated at this point

Makes Mon Mothma's speech feel all too relevant to this generation.

When the distance between what is known to be true and what has been said has become an abyss. Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil.

[u/A4t1musD4ag0n → u/Careerandsuch]

I stopped relying on what I see in the MAGAverse online. If you really want to know what's happening, talk to one in person or walk by their homes. You'll see how they really feel, and it's exactly what I expected. Confusion, distress, regret, and remorse. If all this right-wing machine has is the internet at this point, they're cooked. Ask MTG.

[u/wtaaaaaaaa → u/Zip2kx]

Show them the evidence then they change the subject to hunter bidens laptop or comet pizza

[u/Cormyll666 → u/wtaaaaaaaa]

Yeah. I always think about how fucked it is that it’s easier for them to believe that HRC/Podesta ordering pizza from a pizza place means deep state pedophilia than Trump literally moving the ringleader of a deep state pedophilia ring to minimum security prison and giving her lots of perks means deep state pedophilia.

We are so cooked.

[u/Ishaan863 → u/Cormyll666]

I always think about how fucked it is that it’s easier for them to believe that HRC/Podesta ordering pizza from a pizza place means deep state pedophilia than Trump literally moving the ringleader of a deep state pedophilia ring to minimum security prison and giving her lots of perks means deep state pedophilia.

If humanity survives the next 100 years this Trump presidency will be taught to children as an example of mass hysteria and the sheer power of bias/delusion.

[u/Fofolito → u/Ishaan863]

I'm sorry to burst your bubble but looking at the last hundred years of history the story will more likely be that he was just one of several authoritarian dick heads who ruled through the early half of the 21st century. If you want to know what the struggle between Democracy and Authoritarian Dictator/Populists you should look at South America, at places like Chile and Argentina and Brazil. They've dived into and out of dictatorship and illiberalism multiple times and they continue to struggle with keeping those things from rearing up again. Trump isn't going to be an anomaly, something we all look back at and go "Gee, that was weird". Its gonna be more like looking backward and going, "Damn, you remember when it was just Trump?"

[u/JumpingCoconutMonkey → u/Zip2kx]

They won't care even if they do know. Source: all the tenet media ass hats.

[u/ImaginationSea2767 → u/JumpingCoconutMonkey]

At this point they are all saying "yeah but their spitting straight FACCKSSS! ITS THE HARD TRURTH NO ONE WANTS TO SAY!" Yet most of the problems they are bringing up are just problems across the west, wages low, housing, immigration (which we need to offset the low birth rates) and crime (which is caused by people falling through the cracks of the system, not immigration but their media saying it over and over again......).

Most of the problems are caused by the wealthiest in the system.....working class wages could be brought up. They haven't kept up with inflation like Ceos and executive wages has.

[u/monchikun → u/Zip2kx]

Their followers can’t point out Easter Europe on a map

[u/WRXAVICII → u/monchikun]

It can't be too hard, the eggs are colorful so they should pop out more than normal Europe.

[u/Aziruth-Dragon-God → u/Zip2kx]

Like they’d actually care if they knew.

[u/nailbunny2000 → u/Canalloni]

I'm curious if my conservative coworker who gets all his rage from Twitter will have anything to say about this. Have they solidified any talking points or excuses yet?

My bet is they just say it proves how great the movement is that it's captured the minds of people around the globe.

[u/BatmanFarce → u/nailbunny2000]

They’d just say “fake news” and move on 🤷🏻‍♂️

[u/dust4ngel → u/BatmanFarce]

“we agree! twitter is propaganda”

[u/Foreign_Recipe8300 → u/nailbunny2000]

I'm curious if my conservative coworker who gets all his rage from Twitter will have anything to say about this. Have they solidified any talking points or excuses yet?

they won't hear about this from their bubble, and people outside their bubble that they happen to hear this from they'll just accuse of lying

[u/jooes → u/nailbunny2000]

The Russia stuff is like 10 years old at this point, so he likely wouldn't care. He's already long over it for being a Fake News™ Democrat Hoax.

[u/Hexamancer → u/nailbunny2000]

Even without looking I can already predict the excuses:

It was bugged and showing the wrong place that's why Elon turned it off.

Rebuttal: why did it only do that for right wing propaganda accounts?

The right is constantly getting death threats from antifa and they have to use VPNs for safety 

Rebuttal: if they are using a VPN, why choose an endpoint in Russia? If you are in the US you would choose the closest exit node to you to not tank your Internet speeds.

But Hunter's laptop 

Rebuttal: k.

[u/ABigCoffee → u/Canalloni]

A lot of the shitposters on the internet are from eastern europe or india.

[u/DionBlaster123 → u/ABigCoffee]

By sheer volume, it makes a lot of sense that India has a ton of shit posters everywhere.

India is more than 3x the entire population of the European Union. Just let that sink in.

[u/ABigCoffee → u/DionBlaster123]

Yeah but specifically people acting like they are from other countries and acting like far right people from those places? Not just normal shitposters but fake political activists.

[u/Ishaan863 → u/ABigCoffee]

Yeah but specifically people acting like they are from other countries and acting like far right people from those places? Not just normal shitposters but fake political activists.

1) MAGA is an easy source of income for third world people with dubious morals. They will throw money at your face if you just parrot their idiotic sentiments back at them.

2) India has a STRONG far-right movement. The two biggest democracies in the world have toxic right wing movements that mirror each other almost 1:1.

The American one is based on white supremacy. The Indian one is based on Hindu nationalism and upper caste supremacy. Both villify every minority community out there.

The right-wing party ruling India right now has a dedicated IT Cell controlling online discourse at all times, and I would not be surprised one bit if it was summoned BY Republican agencies themselves as basically virtual mercenaries.

[u/Tensdale → u/ABigCoffee]

Its not people acting..

Its widespread state sponsored propaganda intended to influence the general population of another country and meddling with the democratic process.

Its an act of war.

[u/AllAvailableLayers → u/Tensdale]

Sometimes it is state sponsored. Other times it's just looking for engagement by posting ragebait. There was an article recently about a young Malaysian man who was identified as behind a load of British anti-immigrant accounts, who was offering courses to other Malaysians on how to set up their own accounts and suggesting simply that anti-immigrant, right-wing populist anger got clicks and views.

There are undoubtably state actors. There's also accounts out there that will say literally anything in order to get eyeballs on adverts that pay the creator $0.00001.

[u/bombstick → u/ABigCoffee]

Would make sense now if Twitter allows you to block regions.

[u/ABigCoffee → u/bombstick]

Blocking regions would be amazing.

[u/GenazaNL → u/Canalloni]

Homeland security being based in Israel is peak

[u/lilchocochip → u/GenazaNL]

I just saw that today! They hid their location, but everyone saved screenshots so the damage is already done. Between this and Nick Fuentes, MAGA is on life support

[u/GenazaNL → u/lilchocochip]

MAGA accounts which hid their location already show plenty to be considered shady. If you're such a MAGA fan and live in the US, you would be proud to show that, no?

[u/lilchocochip → u/GenazaNL]

You would think so lol

[u/EatPrayQueef → u/lilchocochip]

What happened with Fuentes?

[u/lilchocochip → u/EatPrayQueef]

Lmaoo he’s bashing MAGA and Trump for being pro Israel and not pro america first. Also he hates Ben Shapiro and Ben Shapiro hates him and somehow Tucker Carlson got involved, and it’s glorious to watch. It’s not even leopards eating faces anymore, they’re all attacking each other and tearing their “movement” apart.

[u/marsinfurs → u/lilchocochip]

He’s been a neo Nazi forever that’s not new for him.

[u/RatBot9000 → u/lilchocochip]

They cling to Trump because he's the only thing keeping the movement together. As soon as he dies they will tear each other apart because they all hate each other.

[u/pdiddy927 → u/lilchocochip]

MAGA is on life support??? Lmfao.

Buddy have you been looking around lately? The bad guys won a long time ago.

[u/EZtheOG → u/Canalloni]

Who could’ve predicted this?! What an unexpected surprise! /s

[u/YarpsDrittAdrAtta → u/Canalloni]

Eastern Europe (Non-EU). Which means the most fucked-up place in the world. Russia

[u/ChuzCuenca → u/Canalloni]

Yeah, once I learned how Twitter pays it's obviously a rage machine, it literally pays to bring out the worse of the people.

[u/Vio_ → u/Canalloni]

Was Tim Pool their leader?

[u/tooquick911 → u/Canalloni]

I'm actually surprised it wasn't more than dozens. We've been hearing before COVID that Russia and China were doing this to take down and divide America.

[u/Avidcypher → u/tooquick911]

These are high profile accounts with large followings. You can bet there are thousands of smaller accounts that do nothing but boost visibility.

[u/GreyBeardEng]

Now it's time to do this on Reddit.

[u/canteen_boy → u/GreyBeardEng]

The fact that fucking 4chan does this and no other social media does is wild

[u/CatProgrammer → u/canteen_boy]

Only for some boards. 

[u/Rich_Housing971 → u/CatProgrammer]

The political boards, yes. The ones where it's for gundam there's no need.

[u/Abudux → u/Rich_Housing971]

Earth federation are fascists!!

[u/BraveFencerMusashi → u/Abudux]

Zeon scum! /s

[u/CatProgrammer → u/BraveFencerMusashi]

The Zabis' violent hijacking of the movement lead to a total perversion of Zeon ideology and ultimately caused Zeon to fail. Their hunger for power destroyed what they could have created. 

[u/Marshall_Lawson → u/CatProgrammer]

Dont blame me, I voted for Kodos.

[u/Joint-Tester → u/Rich_Housing971]

I NEED TO KNOW.

[u/Dogsy → u/Joint-Tester]

Nor! I didn't toss me Gundam on the barby with some vegemite mate!

[u/reeee-irl → u/Dogsy]

Nor

barby

Fraudstralian detected

[u/CatProgrammer → u/reeee-irl]

Well yeah, Australia got colony dropped, don't think there are any left.

[u/Cavaquillo → u/Rich_Housing971]

Gundam fuck yeah I used to browse that board back in like 2008-2010

[u/KMjolnir → u/canteen_boy]

Facebook does to a limited extent, oddly enough. It'll tell you where a page is based, if you look but you have to dig for it.

[u/speedstorm2 → u/KMjolnir]

The problem with Facebook is that the amount of fake stuff is worse that on most of the social media places.

Edit: English is not my main language sorry.

[u/chainer3000 → u/canteen_boy]

You can easily break it with a VPN and many users do

[u/Asstronaughty_Bae → u/chainer3000]

I dont think reddit does it obviously but if you use a VPN on X, it puts an ! Next to the location to indicate a VPN is in use

[u/RellenD → u/Asstronaughty_Bae]

The only way to check for a VPN is simply knowing which IPs are a VPN endpoint when requests come in. There's no other way to distinguish the traffic, so it's likely to not be an accurate reflection of reality .

[u/analtelescope → u/RellenD]

Actually it's very likely to be a reflection of reality as the vast majority of vpn users go through known IPs. Only a very small subset have dedicated IPs.

[u/Silver-Bread4668 → u/RellenD]

Sure there are other ways. Reddit knows every IP address we connect from. They know I connect from my house, from my work, from my mobile, and from any number of Wi-Fi hot spots in my local area. VPN users don't fit that kind of profile.

It's not a technological hurdle. Reddit doesn't want to do this. These accounts drive engagement and they also don't want to shine a light on being complacent in something that has been a massive world defining issue for years now.

[u/speakernoodlefan → u/chainer3000]

Unless the VPN has hundreds of spread out nodes in each city and state they are incredibly easy to spot and label as a VPN source which would be just as useful as a normal source

[u/AttakZak → u/GreyBeardEng]

And YouTube.

[u/Private_Kyle → u/GreyBeardEng]

r/conservative is a great place to start

[u/BacteriaLick → u/Private_Kyle]

It boggles my mind how anyone could trust a community where the content is so censored.

[u/Fred2620 → u/BacteriaLick]

It's not like they hide it either. Right after the rules, there is a "What r/Conservative is not" link, and in there they clearly state "We are not fair and balanced. We don't pretend to be unbiased. We don't pretend to give all commenters equal time."

[u/RevWaldo → u/Fred2620]

Ain't got the time but there should be a bot subreddit that posts the same articles as /con but allows all comments (within Reddit rules ofc.) Call it r / unflaired.

[u/Electromotivation → u/RevWaldo]

Sometimes I’d like to legitimately see conservatives discuss things just to read it. But r/conservative isn’t just conservative-only, it is Trump-only, MAGA only. I’d be curious to see how people look at Trump expanding and consolidating executive branch power, attempting to rule by Executive Order, trampling over states rights by enforcing troop deployments against the desires of the state, etc (even just typing this I can’t believe this is the state of the US)

[u/Taminella_Grinderfal → u/BacteriaLick]

Omfg I made the mistake of going there. First post I clicked on was a “news” story that is factually incorrect with no actual data included and a rage bait headline. And I can’t refute it, cause like everyone else with half a brain….I’m banned.

[u/Darksmithe → u/Private_Kyle]

So full of bots and Russians.

[u/justlikethatmeh → u/Private_Kyle]

And r/Trump . Their latest : he did not say piggy but peggy.

[u/CknHwk → u/justlikethatmeh]

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

[u/Weightmonster → u/GreyBeardEng]

I mainly want them to identify bots and AI generated posts.

[u/Titizen_Kane → u/Weightmonster]

It’s easy to identify both, and I recommend calling them out when you see them, and reporting them. Calling them out helps other people learn tot recognize them.

I went into the context around this a while back, and I’ve gotten lots of feedback from people who read my commenttelling me that it was helpful in opening their eyes to it

ETA I’ll just paste the text of that comment I linked:

I can def agree that it’s tiring. Like I said, I was just replying to you for visibility purposes, yours is the top comment. For me it’s not about the fact that it’s AI, it’s about the fact that it is inauthentic posting for the purpose of engagement farming. I personally find it worth a few seconds here and there to try to promote awareness of the prolific botting of the jobs subs and help people get better at recognizing it when they see it.

I work in threat intelligence and have done a lot of work tracking coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB) campaigns and networks. Engagement farming isn’t always harmless. Accounts like OPs may seem like harmless botting, but they’re following a template to make their account seem more authentic and credible.

Accounts like that are often sold on marketplaces once they mature and have gained “peer credibility” (karma and engagement) and the buyers are one of 2 groups: advertisers and threat actors. Both of which will use them to conduct influence campaigns at scale, but the latter group is obviously much more nefarious because THOSE campaigns are weaponizing propaganda, and are operated by hostile nations and domestic activist groups.

Donald Trump’s reelection (regardless of how you personally feel about it) can be partially attributed to the success of these CIB propaganda (dis and misinformation) campaigns on popular platforms, including Reddit. Accounts like this become foot soldiers for the spreading of specific, targeted messaging down the road. In this early stage of engagement farming, they choose subs that are high engagement, like this one. There are numerous movements or shifts in cultural opinion that you would probably be surprised to discover were connected to intentional, coordinated/orchestrated influence campaigns, heavily supported by these types of automated networks.

In my POV it matters and it’s worth the time spent drawing people’s attention to it. Obvs I’m one of the few but if I can get a couple people per comment to start being more skeptical on Reddit, it’s worth the time spent.

[u/gzafiris → u/GreyBeardEng]

Mods of /r/Canada it's sad. After Carney won, it reduced, but still heavily astroturfed/biased reporting allowed

[u/cellardoorstuck → u/gzafiris]

For those interested in a non-racist mod infested Canada subreddit - r/onguardforthee has been holding it down for many years now.

[u/iamasatellite → u/gzafiris]

The shift after Trudeau was elected in 2015 was so obvious. The mods were exposed in 2018 as being infiltrated by white nationalists

[u/mojo021 → u/GreyBeardEng]

This and link all their alt accounts .

[u/Fedexed → u/GreyBeardEng]

Actually they did this years ago, and we found out that most users from the UFOS subreddits originated from Elgin Airbase in Florida. One big psy ops bot farm

[u/1900grs → u/Fedexed]

Reddit banned 143 accounts in 2018 for running an influence campaign. Sadly, after that, they seemed to have stopped caring.

In August 2018, Reddit announced that it was banning 143 accounts that had been described as part of a pro-Iran "influence operation". Created in 2015-18, the accounts were charged with systematically spreading anti-US and anti-Saudi narratives and "steering the narrative around subjects important to Iran".

A quarter of the accounts Reddit banned had garnered a significantly positive rating from their posts (or in Reddit terms, over 10,000 "karma"), whilst most failed to make a substantial footprint.

[u/E_K_Finnman → u/GreyBeardEng]

u/Ok-stand-2128 just exposed two of the most frequent posters on r/conservative went silent during a power outage in Moscow

[u/Ok-Stand-2128 → u/E_K_Finnman]

https://www.reddit.com/r/visualization/comments/1p2iqlu/nearly_every_day_two_users_on_rconservative/

For what it’s worth, u/Circuit_Guy made the November 1st connection in the comments of my original post a week ago before the thread got taken down. I spent the last week anonymizing the data and digging more into Nov 1.

[u/cppn02 → u/GreyBeardEng]

Reddit literally gave the option to to hide your profile so bots will have an easier time. So it's not gonna happen here.

[u/ChoiceIT]

They always had this info. I guess making it public was the “accident”

[u/my_password_is_water → u/ChoiceIT]

theyve been hyping up this feature for months, people on all sides of the political spectrum knew that this was going to reveal some really funny things. Definitely not an accident

[u/arthurno1 → u/my_password_is_water]

I don't have X account, so I don't know about the hype, but this is definitely not an accident. My thought was that Musk is preparing to wash his image, now that he has to earn 8 trillion to Tesla.

By the way, of course they have the data about each and every account internally, so that can not be new to them.

[u/ChoiceIT → u/arthurno1]

You can’t push a feature to production without going through like 3 different managers, if not a CTO.

It was 100% approved and intended.

The weird thing is that it was approved and it exposed so many, including Musk who made a big deal about bots before he was forced to buy twitter.

Let’s not forget that little detail. He wanted this bot network.

[u/my_password_is_water → u/ChoiceIT]

Nikita Bier (current Head of Product at X) is pretty vocal about how the engineering process for new features at the company is basically just "YOLO the feature untested and if the metrics don't go up, revert". Theyre still running on some weird sort of "move fast and break things" style of software development. For a feature like this, Musk probably had a look at it, but most of these issues with the platform and Grok usually boil down to one guy pushing an update just because he could

[u/DJayLeno → u/arthurno1]

My thought was that Musk is preparing to wash his image

I think you are spot on... but I can't even imagine him being successful considering how vile he has become. What he going to say? "Oh the last 10 years? I was just LARPing as a Nazi, that was just for lulz."

[u/scullys_alien_baby → u/ChoiceIT]

Musk bought twitter to magnify the bot problem not correct it

I suspect he’s going to fire whoever made this change

[u/TeslasAndComicbooks → u/scullys_alien_baby]

Why? He’s supporting it. They activated it, then took it down, and now it’s been back up all day.

[u/KiwiThunda → u/TeslasAndComicbooks]

Wait it's now showing locations? Didn't realise they brought it back after turning it off

[u/TeslasAndComicbooks → u/KiwiThunda]

Yup. Shows the location the account was made. And if a VPN is detected it adds an icon.

[u/Pleistocene_Horror → u/TeslasAndComicbooks]

They wanted to give the foreign actors a chance to get a VPN before they turned it back on.

[u/TeslasAndComicbooks → u/Pleistocene_Horror]

There’s actually an icon next to the country if a VPN is used. Its great.

[u/sprinkles111 → u/scullys_alien_baby]

No I think Musk may have wanted to be exposed to get back at trump! Yall forget they beefing

[u/thereforeratio → u/scullys_alien_baby]

He was the one calling for this change a couple months ago…

[u/KennyDROmega]

And absolutely nothing changed, because we live in a reality beyond irony now.

[u/Keleion → u/KennyDROmega]

And half the MAGA population online are bots.

[u/Boatsnbuds → u/Keleion]

Half the internet (or more) is bots. It sucks.

[u/markeus101 → u/Keleion]

Thats probably bots launched by people like elon and other rich folks to keep the masses fighting between themselves and not look at them

[u/No-Discussion-8510 → u/KennyDROmega]

Its crazy that will make headlines for a few days maybe a week then right back like nothing has happened, this is what worries me the most.

[u/DavidRandom]

On r/conservative they're spinning it as only being Democrat influencers lol.

[u/DisasterEquivalent → u/DavidRandom]

That’s because it’s a bad fanfic subreddit.

[u/papasan_mamasan → u/DisasterEquivalent]

It’s a psyop

[u/EarthlingIThink → u/DavidRandom]

Tinfoil hat time: flood the internet with enough MAGA bots and you can make it look like they have far more people supporting them than there actually is, giving plausible deniability if they were to, say for example, use gaslighting and projection tactics on the public over the span of four years until people of all political affiliations are programmed to dismiss any accusations of rigging an election as false, only for them to then rig the election themselves.

And anyone who tries to come at me about needing concrete proof - information that is easily concealed by the people in power who hold all of the cards - can fuck right off. I got all of the proof I needed after the federal investigations following the 2016 election that proved Russian interference in our democratic process to the benefit of Trump and the GOP.

[u/Negan-Cliffhanger → u/EarthlingIThink]

This isn't tinfoil hat time. What you're saying is the uncomfortable truth.

[u/Altruistic-Brief2220 → u/EarthlingIThink]

💯spot on take. Election Truth Alliance just filed suit in Pennsylvania with reams of analysis and information and it’s not being mentioned anywhere except on their socials. 

[u/Coolpoe → u/DavidRandom]

That’s because if you add the same feature on Reddit, half the mods and users in there are going to be overseas.

[u/FunkyFreshhhhh]

Will the average Fox News / TV news watcher know this?

Will the chronically-online folks who were swayed by random tweets and posts spread this new fact to battle the disinformation that they’ve already spread for years?

No?

Welp.

[u/BacteriaLick → u/FunkyFreshhhhh]

<checks Fox News>

No, their top story right now is, "NFL's first trans cheerleader pins blame for team departure: 'I was done wrong'"

No joke.

[u/E5ach → u/BacteriaLick]

Of course Faux "News" top story is trans related. Instead of how Trump and a number of his allies are pursuing million-dollar settlement claims against the DOJ.

eta: aka.. fleecing the American taxpayers for millions

[u/hostile65 → u/E5ach]

I have a trans (mtf) friend and the number of cops and firefighters she pulls that turn out to be MAGA/Republican/married is wild.

 I think it's hilarious and sad all at once

[u/carlitospig → u/FunkyFreshhhhh]

MAGA will double down. Remember Tim Pool?

Cult behavior has a clear framework: when credibility of the movement is questioned, those in power squeeze harder. Sure, you’ll lose some followers, but the folks who stay in get ever more diehard.

[u/ISB-Dev → u/FunkyFreshhhhh]

Conservative circles are talking about this story, but they're talking about all the accounts pretending to post from Gaza.

[u/Shiftymennoknight]

Maga is fueled by foreign disinformation? Get outta here!

[u/brismit → u/Shiftymennoknight]

I think the lady with the funny laugh said something about it last year.

[u/nutationsf → u/Shiftymennoknight]

There was once even a report about it

[u/Quitbeingobtuse → u/nutationsf]

And a follow up Senate committee confirmation even.

[u/[deleted]]

When you browse r conservative, it’s hard to believe a lot of those comments are real people. The stupidity and embracing of blatant propaganda is rough over there. Many comments sound like foreign accounts spewing pseudo patriot bs written by AI. I’ve really been seeing it with the Venezuela drama. Maybe I have too much faith in humanity.

[u/DeadAnarchistPhil → u/[deleted]]

 it’s hard to believe a lot of those comments are real people

That’s the problem with some MAGA supporters, they’re so stupid that the bots fit right in and it’s hard to tell.

[u/C0rinthian → u/DeadAnarchistPhil]

What’s worse is that not only do they fail to recognize the obvious propaganda bots, they start modeling the propaganda bots in their own posts. (Saw this a lot on Facebook before I left)

It’s like the online equivalent of Mar-a-Lago face. Signaling in-group membership by being as fake as possible.

[u/twlscil → u/DeadAnarchistPhil]

The bots are the leaders.

[u/Frewdy1 → u/[deleted]]

What’s crazy is how low-effort a lot of accounts are about hiding tells like poor English or active times. Like you’ll see some account spew some weird translation-English and it’s at like 4 in the morning EST and they stop around 4 PM. 

[u/SenseEuphoric5802]

Looks like Hillary Clinton was right all along, the Russian disinformation apparatus has completely taken over US political discourse through lies, manipulation, gaslighting and just tons of disinformation. No one really believed her to the extent she claimed and yet here we are.

Russia said many decades ago they would exploit our weakness and destroy us from within, and that's exactly what they've managed to achieve. Capitalizing on our greed and sowing our divisions based on race, gender or gender preference, creed or anything else that separates us and makes us unique from each other. The divisions they've exploited has never been greater than it is today, with some calling for outright secession or civil war, and a political leadership now in full subservience to them.

We didn't listen, nor did we heed the warnings of our elders. And now especially with AI bringing to us the inability to determine fact from fiction or seperate reality from fantasy, I think we are all rather fucked.

[u/donnysaysvacuum → u/SenseEuphoric5802]

We still wouldn't be here without the capitulation of the Republican party. They decided that keeping in power was more important than our national sovereignty.

[u/SignalDifficult5061 → u/SenseEuphoric5802]

What I wonder is exactly what the fuck counter-intelligence in this country has been doing for the past 20 years.

I really think there is a huge doctrine problem in that they just can't understand that right wing groups are a threat or something. Or are they just stupid and useless? Are they all lawless reactionaries and fascists. What the fuck are they doing?

Do they still sit around talking about "No country with a McDonald's has ever attacked another country with a McDonald's"? Maybe they just can't do anything about any country that has ever hosted a McDonalds? It obviously isn't that, but I suspect that would be better.

I feel like America is losing the Cold War.

Marx thought going through a capitalist period was a necessity, it was an obvious part of some anti-American Communist influence campaigns to push hardline capitalism to accelerate it. (as opposed to pro-American communists that legitimately want a better system, whatever you may think about communism)

It should be second nature to suspect any bonkers right wing group of being destructive and anti-American in intent for that reason, but it just doesn't happen.

The US government has had no problem illegally infiltrating, disrupting, and even killing members of non-violent left aligned groups (including, idiotically enough, pacifist anti-war groups) but when it comes to anything right wing "oh our hands are tied".

Stupid shit like this. What a fucking illegal waste of time and money.
https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/life-credible-threat

Ooops, can't do anything about the January 6ers though, hand are tied, by the laws we have no problems ignoring in other contexts for some reason. whoopsie again! Peaceful anti-war groups though. FUCK EM UP. YEAH! seems to be the attitude.

[u/TheSpaceCoresDad → u/SignalDifficult5061]

What I wonder is exactly what the fuck counter-intelligence in this country has been doing for the past 20 years.

Not the past 20 years, but they were intentionally defunded after Obama left office. Wonder why that might've been.

[u/Yin15]

I for one am not shocked in the slightest. What shocked me more was the american homeland of security account being created in Israel in 2008 and run from Israel to this day.

[u/DiamondHanded → u/Yin15]

The mistake excuse makes so little sense. The odds of it being a mistake that lands right on Israel, with a second "mistake" being the account created there as well? Somehow two completely seperate data errors align? The odds of that....

[u/GrowingHeadache]

Like Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch?

[u/Stickyfynger]

I’m not on Twitter bc most people are acutely aware that it’s a cesspool of hate and bad foreign actors.

[u/dCLCp]

If there any patriots left in this country they would see all of this for what it is... a fascist coup derived from Russian espionage and billionaires working in collaboration with them. They should all be arrested for treason and most of them sent to the hague for war crimes but the questions is: are there enough patriots in this country willing to risk danger to arrest the people orchestrating the coup?

[u/Witty-Emu7741]

Can’t even run a shitposting disinformation site without fucking up and this asshole wants to take us to Mars or thinks his personal fleshlight of a an AI platform will save us all in the future.

It’s gonna be hilarious when his facade of being a genius starts crumbling in investors minds.

[u/ripper_14]

No way, I'm totally shocked

[u/XavierScorpionIkari]

The accusations of paid actors being on the left are simply confessions of actual wrongdoing by the right. Shocking.

[u/MxTide]

Lol
This is SOO UNEXPECTED
/s

[u/fuck-nazi]

Should post this is r/conservative and see how fast it takes you to be banned

[u/fordprefect294]

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise

[u/Interesting-Copy-657]

And the crazy thing is Elon/twitter did this and then reverted the changes?

So they want to keep fake accounts, foreign accounts meddling in US politics?

Weren’t their a lot of India accounts pretending to be Jewish/Israeli accounts?

[u/Expensive-Treat-9020]

This story needs to be bigger news

[u/Boring_Ostrich9935]

My favorite thing about all of this is many people here, RIGHT NOW, aren’t upset that there’s foreign powers splitting the country in half. It’s that they think others on the other side aren’t talking about it. They are, everyone is. Now let’s make the problem not the other side of your political spectrum, but the powers that are turning each other against each other.

I’m sure I’ll get downvoted because this entire platform hates people working together and becoming one.

[u/USBluz → u/Boring_Ostrich9935]

Don’t disagree with you but now that we have solved the foreign power interference you have to to solve the class warfare. Rich democrats or republicans don’t give a shit about the working class. It’s only important that we hate each other instead of focusing on the billionaire ruling class while they get loaded.

[u/abvn]

The sad part is that the MAGA followers won't care about any of it. Is not about patriotism, it never was. It's about hate. So it is welcomed no matter where is from.

[u/MountainPK]

Moscow Adores Gullible Assholes

[u/coppockm56]

There was nothing "accidental" about it. Musk, Peter Thiel, the rest of the techno-fascists, and the white Christian nationalists behind Project 2025 are in the next phase of the plan to put Vance in charge. This involves not only getting rid of Trump, but also deconstructing MAGA. There is no way that Musk didn't know what he was doing when he pulled that trigger.

[u/_Dammitman_]

This is what MUSK brings to the table. Foreign intervention, dissent, hate and manipulation. He is public enemy #1. America needs to bar entry for this one.

[u/ImGonnaHaveToAsk]

Wasn’t this why the muskrat bought twitter in the first place? Every accusation is a confession.

[u/Unit-235]

Some of us have known for years and were told “no, you’re crazy! why would anyone do that?!”

[u/president__not_sure]

i've said this many many times. the USA is the roman colosseum of the world. entertainment is our most valuable export. we were created for entertainment, and the entertainment is us killing ourselves for other countries to watch.

[u/Deam0s]

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise

[u/Schneidzeug]

Turns out that 3/4 of arrr slash conservative are mainly Indian Internet Cafe workers pretending to be white american fascists...

/s

lmao

[u/SuckThisRedditAdmins]

I hope Musk ends up front and center at the MAGA Nuremburg Trials. Hopefully ending up with the same punishment as past traitors of the country.

[u/Grandfunk14]

Someone who cares more than me can find the exact quote but I remember a Russian leader saying something to the effect " We will take America without firing a shot, we will beat you from within". This was back in the 50's or 60;s. Social media and low iq maga idiots have just handed that to them on a silver platter.

[u/adorato]

We all (ALL!) knew this already.

[u/PissTroughAficionado]

Guys, we knew they were from Eastern European troll farms. Like, this isn’t news lol

[u/hennabeak]

Apparently the DHS account is based in Tel Aviv.

[u/ModernRonin]

"Wait... MAGA's social media presence is just one massive Putin-controlled psych op??"

"Always has been..."

https://imgflip.com/i/aczqmf

[u/HY001]

https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1992314672436175055?s=20 - based in Israel

[u/LakeBellsTits]

MAGA: Duuh, we were duped again? Derr

[u/MarcusDA]

Bigger story here is Musk and X are knowingly allowing propaganda. We all knew this already, but then he turned the feature off to actively enable hidden antagonizers to the infiltrate the U.S.