There is in fact proof of this in the real world, where Russia has been paying people in Europe to do actions that rile up "the left" & "the right" (in both directions).
It would be quite naive to think they don't do the same in the virtual world of the internet, where it is even cheaper…
Bots aren't necessarily aimed to promote "glorious motherland" directly, there are probably hundreds of people on a payroll searching for easy, popular targets to wreak havoc.
There is in fact proof of this in the real world, where Russia has been paying people in Europe to do actions that rile up "the left" & "the right" (in both directions).
It would be quite naive to think they don't do the same in the virtual world of the internet, where it is even cheaper…
There's no evidence to disprove them either.
Bots aren't necessarily aimed to promote "glorious motherland" directly, there are probably hundreds of people on a payroll searching for easy, popular targets to wreak havoc.
Paranoia. There is just as much evidence that the USA has influence operations in every country on the planet too.
Whatever lets you sleep at night.
8 replies →
You just have to read Reddit and YouTube and Twitter comments to see all the evidence you need.
Curious that you didn't include HN in that list.
Because I rarely see obvious Russian troll comments on hacker news
5 replies →