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Buying Influence: How China manipulates Facebook and Twitter

nytimes.com

251–260 of 463 posts

Re: Buying Influence: How China manipulates Facebook and Twitter

#251

What happened with all that hysteria a few years ago that russia was using FaceBook and twitter to manipulate Brexit and American elections?

https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Pillars-of-... https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/docu... > the Committee found ample evidence to suggest that the Russian government was developing and implementing capabilities to interfere in the 2016 elections, including undermining confidence in U.S. democratic institutions and voting processes. Calling it hysteria is counterproductive. With t…

Voice of America, BBC... (I suspect that both France and Germany have something similar. I'd be surprised if Finland did.)

Re: Buying Influence: How China manipulates Facebook and Twitter

#252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asking for evidence of manufacturing consent is not understanding manufacturing consent . Without being told, the media knows what is supposed to report on and what not to report on.

"It's clearly true, no evidence needed"? At a minimum, that's not very persuasive to anyone who doesn't already agree with you. But worse, that kind of thinking is how you wind up with beliefs that no external evidence can persuade you are false. It's the same approach of both religious cults and conspiracy theorists. Mind you, you could in fact be right. But the thinking pattern has, at best, disreputable fellow tra…

In this case it means you misunderstand the model [1] which doesn't require conspiracy or malicious intent. The book they published on it is just a mass of evidence that this is how it works, check it out if that's what you want.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_model

Re: Buying Influence: How China manipulates Facebook and Twitter

#253
post #103

Before you use this as an excuse to accuse the commenter you disagree with as being a Wumao, note that China's propaganda strategy serves to distract rather than directly engage, as they would rather minimize engagement. It's the same principle of "don't feed the trolls." Here's a Harvard paper that covers this topic more in depth, though it's about domestic propaganda: https://gking.harvard.edu/files/gking/files/50c…

> a Wumao For reference, the initial W doesn't represent a sound, so this would be "an wumao". (Same for Wuhan.)

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Re: Buying Influence: How China manipulates Facebook and Twitter

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

I lived there may be longer than you did. The brainwash has been going on for 70 years, when internet became a concern, the great firewall covered for that. You ended up being brain-washed in no time. There is no doubt CCP made infrastructure a priority, and did 10X better than the west socializing countries as a whole, but if you curse Xi just for fun on any street for 3 minutes you will be in jail quickly without a…

I get the point but reality is unless you cursed Xi with more than 5 people cursing together as well - otherwise people will just think you lost your mind

Re: Buying Influence: How China manipulates Facebook and Twitter

#255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

You would be handing over full political and military control to a group of individuals, with no way of taking it back. If those individuals turn out to perform as well as the current Chinese leaders, you would be ahead. If they turn out to perform more like the past Chinese leaders, you would be behind. Over the past 5,000 years, China got it more wrong than right, which is the only reason that they haven't been the…

> …GDP, which is where they belong given their vast human and natural resources.

That’s so not true. China has long been relying on critical resources like oil, hell even pork. Russia fit this better.

Re: Buying Influence: How China manipulates Facebook and Twitter

#256
post #103

Before you use this as an excuse to accuse the commenter you disagree with as being a Wumao, note that China's propaganda strategy serves to distract rather than directly engage, as they would rather minimize engagement. It's the same principle of "don't feed the trolls." Here's a Harvard paper that covers this topic more in depth, though it's about domestic propaganda: https://gking.harvard.edu/files/gking/files/50c…

Being a Chinese citizen right now means: - You cannot travel abroad (no passport for average citizens, except for those that study/work abroad) - You cannot go beyond China's intranet - You cannot transfer money out of country legally, pretty soon can't invest in other countries's stocks - You cannot watch Spiderman, BTS, squid games, porn and many many more things legally - You have very little rights as LGBT - You…

>You cannot travel abroad (no passport for average citizens, except for those that study/work abroad)

Really? What accounts for all the Chinese tourists visiting Europe/UK/USA? I have a friend who runs a hostel in Edinburgh and the majority of her guests are Chinese so much so that they have had to print signs in Mandarin asking people to abide by certain rules.

>You cannot transfer money out of country legally, pretty soon can't invest in other countries's stocks

This must not be enforced that severely given how much capital has flowed into other countries real estate market. In fact this is a common loophole used to get US citizenship. (invest 500k and you can get a green card).

Re: Buying Influence: How China manipulates Facebook and Twitter

#257

What happened with all that hysteria a few years ago that russia was using FaceBook and twitter to manipulate Brexit and American elections?

https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Pillars-of-... https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/docu... > the Committee found ample evidence to suggest that the Russian government was developing and implementing capabilities to interfere in the 2016 elections, including undermining confidence in U.S. democratic institutions and voting processes. Calling it hysteria is counterproductive. With t…

It was, because they were claiming it all the way along, even before any real evidence was apparent. Thus guaranteeing the issue would not be adequately dealt with, and showing Trump the way to undermining election results in his defeat.

Also, weaponising facts is not a good way to increase public confidence in a democratic process.

Re: Buying Influence: How China manipulates Facebook and Twitter

#258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, threatening civilian organizations isn't how you gain soft power. The has the power it does because, aside from being very rich, before the 20th century they made extremely reasonable foreign policy decisions.

I don't think modern US soft power has much to do with 19th century politics. More than enough happened since then to completely override whatever was before.

Yes and that's why many people look at both countries as equals, or equally bad actors. That wasn't always the case, though.

Re: Buying Influence: How China manipulates Facebook and Twitter

#259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the same reason that the NBA came under fire after one of their GM's sent a tweet out in support of Honk Kong [1]. Of course it's important for the CCP to shape opinion abroad, it's seeking to supplant the US as a global power and needs the soft-influence that the US has. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/07/houston-rockets-gm-morey-del...

Yeah, threatening civilian organizations isn't how you gain soft power. The has the power it does because, aside from being very rich, before the 20th century they made extremely reasonable foreign policy decisions.

[deleted]

Re: Buying Influence: How China manipulates Facebook and Twitter

#260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being a Chinese citizen right now means: - You cannot travel abroad (no passport for average citizens, except for those that study/work abroad) - You cannot go beyond China's intranet - You cannot transfer money out of country legally, pretty soon can't invest in other countries's stocks - You cannot watch Spiderman, BTS, squid games, porn and many many more things legally - You have very little rights as LGBT - You…

None of these can be attributed to authoritarian, or some form of CCP brutality, when moderate amount of scrutiny is applied ... > - You cannot travel abroad (no passport for average citizens, except for those that study/work abroad) This is of course because of China's CVOID policy, which is 0 tolerance. That's a rational decision of China's high-density population, and manufacturing-based economy. I do not think it…

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