XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.corruption, alt.politics.usa   
   XPost: talk.politics.usa   
   From: NoBody@nowhere.com   
      
   On Fri, 01 Nov 2024 21:05:02 -0500, Ubiquitous    
   wrote:   
      
   >The Kamala Harris campaign is allegedly manipulating numerous Internet   
   >platforms, and possibly breaking rules, to artificially boost her   
   >popularity and evade fact-checks on false content.   
   >   
   >An investigation from The Federalist uncovered what appears to be a   
   >vast astroturfing operation run on Discord by paid Harris staffers.   
   >Both Reddit and X, according to the report, have been manipulated to   
   >help Harris – allegations that follow reporting about the Harris team   
   >engaging in shady practices on Google to effectively rewrite headlines   
   >of legacy news media articles, again, to boost Harris.   
   >   
   >On Reddit, Harris staffers allegedly direct volunteers to post specific   
   >content to specific threads, and up-vote or down-vote certain posts –   
   >effectively spamming threads and seemingly breaking platform rules. The   
   >apparent goal is to make Harris appear more popular than she is, and   
   >promote content that helps Harris, even if it’s not true. For example,   
   >staffers have allegedly directed the boosting of Project 2025 content,   
   >which they tie to former President Donald Trump, even though Trump is   
   >not connected to the plan.   
   >   
   >In the matter of 15 days, the staffers were able to get thousands of   
   >posts published, and the content has received more than 5.7 million   
   >upvotes, and over 400,000 comments, the report says. It was also   
   >uncovered that 126 of the top 1,000 posts on the mega-popular   
   >“Politics” subreddit, in just the past month, were allegedly published   
   >by Harris campaign volunteers.   
   >   
   >On X, another hugely influential platform for politics, Harris staffers   
   >are directing similar activity from volunteers. One goal from the camp   
   >is to block “community notes” that are unfavorable to Harris.   
   >   
   >Community notes are basically fact-checks on X, which appear under   
   >misleading or outright false posts. Under Elon Musk’s leadership,   
   >contributors can add a community note, which is voted on by users to   
   >determine if it will be publicly attached to content or not. When   
   >Harris campaign staffers direct volunteers to mass “dislike” an   
   >unfavorable community note, it won’t appear.   
   >   
   >This is likely why pro-Harris accounts have been able to spread   
   >falsehoods without fact-checks attached to them. Even CNN, an outlet   
   >extremely hostile to Trump, has reported on the routine false   
   >information being spewed from “KamalaHQ,” the official Harris camp X   
   >account. The same goes for other pro-Harris accounts that appear to be   
   >working for the Biden-Harris administration, too.   
   >   
   >Google has played a role in the deception, too. Aside from the   
   >company’s documented bias against Trump, it also permitted the Harris   
   >campaign to change headlines and subheadings of mainstream articles to   
   >appear more favorable to Harris, left-leaning outlet Axios exposed over   
   >the summer.   
   >   
   >For example, if one were to conduct a Google search related to health   
   >care, they might get a link to an NPR story that’s sponsored by the   
   >Harris team. The campaign, however, in numerous instances, has edited   
   >that headline and subheadline. In one case, the story would now appear   
   >with the headline, “Harris will lower health care costs.”   
   >   
   >In other words, users would think they’re reading a preview for an NPR   
   >story, while they’re actually reading content from the Harris camp.   
   >   
   >The news organizations whose content was being manipulated, such as USA   
   >Today, the Associated Press, NPR, and others, were unaware of the   
   >changes. Also of note, the Trump campaign does not engage in this shady   
   >practice.   
   >   
   >On Wednesday, “Reddit Lies,” the account that broke the story, said it   
   >was banned from the campaign-run Discord server that’s organizing the   
   >astroturfing operation, indicating the Harris team is likely aware the   
   >operation has been exposed.   
   >   
   >	The Harris-Walz volunteer discord server just banned my 	   
   >account.   
   >   
   >	We expected this. That’s why we quietly archived the server   
   >	over the past week and are now releasing the files to the   
   >	broader public.   
   >   
   >	Deadman’s switch.https://t.co/0Sud1WxbqQ   
   >   
   >	— Reddit Lies (@reddit_lies) October 30, 2024   
   >   
   >Additionally, Musk has already reacted to the allegations concerning X,   
   >announcing he’s opened an investigation into the Harris team’s antics.   
      
   Too late I'm afraid.  Why did he wait so long?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)