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smokebomb_exe t1_jc77lq3 wrote

Reply to comment by givemethepassword in What can a ChatGPT developed by a well-funded intelligence agency such as the NSA be used for? Should we be concerned? by yoaviram

China and Russia have already been doing that against the US since 2016. Where do you think all those divisive political memes come from

China

Russia

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Iggitron90 t1_jc7ebzo wrote

You think our own agencies aren’t also trying to dominate the online conversation?

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Throwmedownthewell0 t1_jc97pr2 wrote

COINTELPRO used against your own citizens is how you know you live in a democracy with free will.

/s

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smokebomb_exe t1_jc7f38x wrote

Passively listening to, of course. Otherwise, government agencies have very little need to sew division for whatever nefarious plots they may have since Americans are dividing themselves. Mention the word "drag queen" to a Republican or "AR-15" to a Liberal and watch cities burn and Capitals fall.

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MEMENARDO_DANK_VINCI t1_jc7pvzn wrote

Well in America you’re right but they’re probably doing similar things in Russia and China

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CocoDaPuf t1_jcafic7 wrote

>Americans are dividing themselves

That's where you're wrong, Americans were not dividing themselves this much until nations started directly influencing the public conversation.

Edit: I also don't want to imply that I think American agencies aren't conducting their own AI driven disinformation and "public sentiment shaping" campaigns. That's certainly a thing that is happening. If anything the US has a larger incentive to use AI for that, as here it would be much harder to keep the kind of programs China and Russia use under wraps, the "troll farms" which are like huge call centers for spreading misinformation, anger and doubt.

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sinsaint t1_jcahoj3 wrote

And until republicans started scraping for votes by turning the uneducated into a cult using meme-worthy propaganda.

Drag queens, hating responsibilities, and prejudice against anything a rep thinks is 'woke'. It'd be comical if it wasn't so effective.

And before it was that, it was Trump telling everyone a bunch of lies they wanted to hear, all while using the presidency to advertise his buddy's canned beans in the Oval Office.

Other countries didn't make us crazy, the crazies just didn't know who to vote for before.

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smokebomb_exe t1_jcaithr wrote

Correct, the divisive political memes from Russia and China I mentioned in a reply here

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Cr4zko t1_jcfbi1n wrote

The classic 'if you're not with me you're a Russian bot!'. It's all so tiresome.

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smokebomb_exe t1_jcfff5x wrote

Exactly. (Edit: misread your post) Until the 2016 elections, Americans on the Left or Right were just (semi) friendly rivals occasionally jabbing each other on the shoulder. "How do you like that old sport!" as Democrats would name a school after Martin Luther King Jr. "Well how about one of these!" Republicans would say as they give teh military a raise.

But then our enemies saw an opportunity: "look at how much Americans depend on social media for their news... and look- there's a new guy on the political scene that has ties with us..." And suddenly hundreds of posts with Spongebob or Lisa Simpson or Spider-man standing in front of a chalkboard started appearing on everybody's timelines.

EDIT: No, it's not that a person isn't allowed to have personal political opinions. It's one of the small things that barely keeps us from becoming a Totalitarian country. It's the information that we ingest that is altered by the Russians/ Chinese.

https://www.brookings.edu/techstream/china-and-russia-are-joining-forces-to-spread-disinformation/

https://www.wired.com/story/russia-ira-propaganda-senate-report/

https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2022/12/27/russia-china-web-wars-divide-americans/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/14/russia-us-politics-social-media-facebook

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA704-1.html

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