The real surprise here, is that it’ll still surprise people to learn this.
AINonsense on
Where ‘based outside the US’ = ‘Are also Russian assets, just like pedo piggy.’
randomnighmare on
I am surprised that X (formerly Twitter) actually did this but yeah this isn’t surprising at all. Next the Right might start to believe that Russia is trying to influence them to like Trump….
gentlemantroglodyte on
I’ve heard about this before and the incentive (beyond political) is that running a high engagement page is legitimately profitable in lower income countries. So you get people incentivized to do whatever it takes to do so.
clingyLabia on
Is anyone even surprised by this? Because the economic reality on ground should be enough to make the actual MAGA living here in the states, question their choices
nerphurp on
This man has been doing good work hunting their accounts:
Don’t label them “Maga Personalities”. Call them what they are. Paid trolls to influence the Maga foot soldiers. Paid propaganda that should be illegal.
HamfistedVegan on
How long do we think this transparency tool will last before Trump is bribing Elon to take it down?
Gonzomi313 on
MAGA still won’t care. In fact they embrace the same authoritarian ideology these trolls work out of. Yet they have the nerve to refer to anyone who doesn’t lick Trumps boots as unpatriotic & even traitors. So much irony with MAGA.
TheWhiteGuardian on
Let me guess, Texas Oblast?
Virbillion on
yes. we know. and the reaction based algorithm, driven by bots and ‘influencers’ that aren’t real people, propels the most toxic and vitriolic voices to the top. it’s the same for insecure tweens that develop eating disorders, and depression as it is for middle aged men that develop extreme xenophobia and hate. social media scrolling is a daily brain washing session for most of it’s users.
CackleRooster on
Golly! Who’d thunk it.
Due-Egg4743 on
Same with Facebook. I know multiple people who follow and comment on pages with a ton of followers that I’m 99%+ confident are Russian accounts pretending to be based in the US.
brain_overclocked on
>Many of the most influential personalities in the “Make America great again” (Maga) movement on X are based outside of the US, including Russia, Nigeria and India, a new transparency feature on the social media site has revealed.
>The new tool, called “about this account,” became available on Friday to users of the Elon Musk-owned platform. It allows anyone to see where an account is located, when it joined the platform, how often its username has been changed, and how the X app was downloaded.
>As soon as the update was rolled out, users found numerous Maga and rightwing influencers who presented themselves as patriotic Americans were operating from other countries.
>“This is easily one of the greatest days on this platform,” wrote liberal influencer Harry Sisson. “Seeing all of these MAGA accounts get exposed as foreign actors trying to destroy the United States is a complete vindication of Democrats, like myself and many on here, who have been warning about this.”
>The account MAGANationX, with nearly 400,000 followers and a bio reading “Patriot Voice for We The People”, is actually operated from eastern Europe, according to the Daily Beast. Another popular profile, IvankaNews, an Ivanka Trump fan account with around one million followers that frequently posts about illegal immigration, Islam and support for Trump, was revealed to be based in Nigeria.
>Another user also uncovered several additional cases. Dark Maga, a smaller account with roughly 15,000 followers, is run from Thailand. MAGA Scope, which has more than 51,000 followers, operates out of Nigeria, while MAGA Beacon is based in south Asia.
>Users on Reddit also joined the exposé effort, posting examples of accounts that appeared to misrepresent their origins. One Reddit user posted a screenshot of a woman who claimed to live in Texas but instead appeared to be located in Russia, though as of Sunday, the user named in the post appears to have a US location. Many in the comments posted other examples they found.
>Bots spreading misinformation and propaganda has been a long-running problem on Twitter, a problem that has been significantly exacerbated since Musk bought it in October 2022 and then renamed it X. Its AI chatbot, Grok, has also been found to frequently make and amplify false claims.
How many of those post on the conservative subreddits, or even *the* conservative subreddit, I wonder. Or even moderate them?
MarcusQuintus on
Turns out that 2019 report showing that Russia interfered in our election to elect Trump was accurate.
X? That’s still a thing? X and Tesla had burn notices put out awhile ago.
irishguy_2012 on
Gee, who could have guessed that!?
BioDriver on
I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise
PhukYuBtch on
Shocker.
CAM6913 on
Nothing new. Russian trolls were on Fascistbook in 2015 trolling anyone that opposed Trump , told the truth about Trump and got them banned
Common-Ad6470 on
Based in Ruzzia by any chance?
shadrackandthemandem on
Now do all the two-month-old accounts commenting for the first time in news and politics subreddits.
literallytwisted on
The biggest issue is that the more dedicated MAGA followers won’t care if the influencers they follow are fake as they do not share the same reality as everyone else.
Its pretty obvious the core of MAGA is a cult so if the cult leader is ok with it they will find a way to justify it.
joshine89 on
You mean Twitter has been pushing right wing talking points from bots? But that means Elon has just been a giant hypocrite, no way that is possible
Straight-Ad6926 on
If you were wondering why the border is such a hot topic, now you know: they’re already on the other side of it.
CanWeTalkEth on
Where’s the list of them
Gloomy-Inspector-834 on
Right, let’s all ignore the warnings about Russian troll farms messing with our minds. The real emergency is obviously the pedophile ring and ritual murders happening at Comet Ping Pong.
27 Comments
The real surprise here, is that it’ll still surprise people to learn this.
Where ‘based outside the US’ = ‘Are also Russian assets, just like pedo piggy.’
I am surprised that X (formerly Twitter) actually did this but yeah this isn’t surprising at all. Next the Right might start to believe that Russia is trying to influence them to like Trump….
I’ve heard about this before and the incentive (beyond political) is that running a high engagement page is legitimately profitable in lower income countries. So you get people incentivized to do whatever it takes to do so.
Is anyone even surprised by this? Because the economic reality on ground should be enough to make the actual MAGA living here in the states, question their choices
This man has been doing good work hunting their accounts:
https://xcancel.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1992156130915815800
Don’t label them “Maga Personalities”. Call them what they are. Paid trolls to influence the Maga foot soldiers. Paid propaganda that should be illegal.
How long do we think this transparency tool will last before Trump is bribing Elon to take it down?
MAGA still won’t care. In fact they embrace the same authoritarian ideology these trolls work out of. Yet they have the nerve to refer to anyone who doesn’t lick Trumps boots as unpatriotic & even traitors. So much irony with MAGA.
Let me guess, Texas Oblast?
yes. we know. and the reaction based algorithm, driven by bots and ‘influencers’ that aren’t real people, propels the most toxic and vitriolic voices to the top. it’s the same for insecure tweens that develop eating disorders, and depression as it is for middle aged men that develop extreme xenophobia and hate. social media scrolling is a daily brain washing session for most of it’s users.
Golly! Who’d thunk it.
Same with Facebook. I know multiple people who follow and comment on pages with a ton of followers that I’m 99%+ confident are Russian accounts pretending to be based in the US.
>Many of the most influential personalities in the “Make America great again” (Maga) movement on X are based outside of the US, including Russia, Nigeria and India, a new transparency feature on the social media site has revealed.
>The new tool, called “about this account,” became available on Friday to users of the Elon Musk-owned platform. It allows anyone to see where an account is located, when it joined the platform, how often its username has been changed, and how the X app was downloaded.
>As soon as the update was rolled out, users found numerous Maga and rightwing influencers who presented themselves as patriotic Americans were operating from other countries.
>“This is easily one of the greatest days on this platform,” wrote liberal influencer Harry Sisson. “Seeing all of these MAGA accounts get exposed as foreign actors trying to destroy the United States is a complete vindication of Democrats, like myself and many on here, who have been warning about this.”
>The account MAGANationX, with nearly 400,000 followers and a bio reading “Patriot Voice for We The People”, is actually operated from eastern Europe, according to the Daily Beast. Another popular profile, IvankaNews, an Ivanka Trump fan account with around one million followers that frequently posts about illegal immigration, Islam and support for Trump, was revealed to be based in Nigeria.
>Another user also uncovered several additional cases. Dark Maga, a smaller account with roughly 15,000 followers, is run from Thailand. MAGA Scope, which has more than 51,000 followers, operates out of Nigeria, while MAGA Beacon is based in south Asia.
>Users on Reddit also joined the exposé effort, posting examples of accounts that appeared to misrepresent their origins. One Reddit user posted a screenshot of a woman who claimed to live in Texas but instead appeared to be located in Russia, though as of Sunday, the user named in the post appears to have a US location. Many in the comments posted other examples they found.
>Bots spreading misinformation and propaganda has been a long-running problem on Twitter, a problem that has been significantly exacerbated since Musk bought it in October 2022 and then renamed it X. Its AI chatbot, Grok, has also been found to frequently make and amplify false claims.
How many of those post on the conservative subreddits, or even *the* conservative subreddit, I wonder. Or even moderate them?
Turns out that 2019 report showing that Russia interfered in our election to elect Trump was accurate.
https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/dl?lctg=6796bccb7b375dec1909a709.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_elections
X? That’s still a thing? X and Tesla had burn notices put out awhile ago.
Gee, who could have guessed that!?
I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise
Shocker.
Nothing new. Russian trolls were on Fascistbook in 2015 trolling anyone that opposed Trump , told the truth about Trump and got them banned
Based in Ruzzia by any chance?
Now do all the two-month-old accounts commenting for the first time in news and politics subreddits.
The biggest issue is that the more dedicated MAGA followers won’t care if the influencers they follow are fake as they do not share the same reality as everyone else.
Its pretty obvious the core of MAGA is a cult so if the cult leader is ok with it they will find a way to justify it.
You mean Twitter has been pushing right wing talking points from bots? But that means Elon has just been a giant hypocrite, no way that is possible
If you were wondering why the border is such a hot topic, now you know: they’re already on the other side of it.
Where’s the list of them
Right, let’s all ignore the warnings about Russian troll farms messing with our minds. The real emergency is obviously the pedophile ring and ritual murders happening at Comet Ping Pong.