(September 25, 2024 at 6:56 am)Belacqua Wrote:(September 24, 2024 at 10:34 pm)The Valkyrie Wrote: Do you know how many pro-Trump bots I've blocked on Twitter?
Hundreds.
Joined 2016, 6 followers and no original posts or, in some cases, no reposts.
Dozens of accounts like that alone.
Statistically, even without trying to get followers, you should have a reasonable number after 8 years.
The existence of bots is not in question. I get lots of bots on Twitter, and the amount of influence they have on my voting is exactly zero. I have no reason to believe that the US electorate is in any danger from these alleged evil bots.
How many of these pro-Trump bots are Russian in origin? Isn't it possible that some Americans are also pro-Trump? To what extent do the bots influence the outcome of an election?
We assume that other countries are trying to interfere in US elections because we know that the US constantly interferes in elections abroad. (See: Victoria Nuland) Also this one: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...dependence
Can you point me to any reputable source which has any evidence that any bots, at any time, have had any influence on an American election? Is the danger so great that we should give up our right to free speech, and let the government control what we are allowed to say on social media? Zuckerberg has already said that the government told him to forbid people on Facebook from making various claims about Covid, some of which turned out to be true, and he regrets having obeyed.
The last time I asked for evidence of Russian influence on elections via Internet, I was pointed to an article about alleged Russians posting on sites for gamers, who were spreading rumors that everybody has already heard a thousand times from other sources: Fox News, Twitter, the usual. The article, among lots and lots of horrible-sounding innuendo, eventually suggested that Putin had "been briefed" about the existence of these gamers.
So I am more skeptical than most people here. I am looking for evidence from someone other than obvious partisans or known liars.
(Bold mine)
So, election interference is only wrong if it succeeds? By that flimsy ‘logic’, we should stop prosecuting people for attempted murder.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax