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Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

haaretz.com

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Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#291

Post by cjk2 »

FpUser wrote: post #160
cjk2 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% agree (hence my point about quitting) but the problem is it's a difficult position to be in when everything is narrative driven and misreporting and propaganda are rife. You can sit there and do nothing and wait for your enemy to paint you in a bad light and the next thing you know your usual political allies are throwing money and aid at your enemy. Or you protect your citizens as best as possible by entering t…

>"until people are on trial afterwards" Speaking of trials: U.S. lawmakers had voted to sanction ICC if it tries to prosecute citizens of the US or it's allies. I guess it is always one rule for thee and another one for me. So much for rules based order.

Well there's a problem here. There are rules. But no one really has to abide to them. There are no consequences against a sovereign nation other than political allegiance risk or travel risks for convicts.

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#292

Post by ignoramous »

megous wrote: post #83
runarberg wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

A lot of people have both mechanisms to record what's happening, and share it. It's been that way with Syria conflict, too, though. A lot was shared in twitter/youtube during that one. One thing that's seemingly a bit new is how much ordinary Israeli soldiers are sharing their behavior, empowered by their self-righteousness, I guess. Videos from shooting unarmed deaf people up close in their homes, to all kinds of ca…

> empowered by their self-righteousness ... Total dehumanisation

Jeez, just like those supremacists of the yesteryears Hollywood made movies to warn us about, then?

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#293

Post by asadotzler »

Retric wrote: post #251
1shooner wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of free speech, can you name another foreign interest that has managed to make it illegal in the US to boycott it's companies?

“Texas enacted a law in May 2017 prohibiting state agencies from signing contracts with companies that boycott Israel.” I’m not particularly happy about that law or similar ones in other states, but what you said is inaccurate.

There's nothing inaccurate about what he said. These laws make it illegal for Americans from boycotting Israel. As an American state employee, organizing a boycott against Israel will get you fired or arrested because allowing it would be breaking the law.

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#294

Post by nerdjon »

ajross wrote: post #278
nerdjon wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I struggle with not calling this propaganda: https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/18skzb0/ah_behold_o... https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/new-billboards-along...

Then you have a somewhat unconventional personal definition for "propaganda". Almost always people use that word to imply something clandestine, misleading, or both. What you showed is a paid advertisement from a US-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, JewBelong, with public accounting on all donations, and a relatively clear mandate for how it spends its money. Again, you're simply saying that a (really only slightly edg…

I do not believe that is the case, you seem to have a more narrow view of propaganda.

Just look at the Webster definition: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/propaganda

What you describe is one form of propaganda but not the only one.

Would you agree that Rosy the Riveter was Propaganda? Or this one https://www.archives.gov/files/exhibits/powers-of-persuasion...

Both very famous pieces of propaganda the US put out during War. Neither of them are misleading. They were put out to encourage people to take an action.

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#295

Post by davesque »

HL33tibCe7 wrote: post #274
davesque wrote: post #263

[flagged]

> Criticizing Israel is the like the "Anti Social Social Club" t-shirt of our time Nice bit of deflection. It’s not even true, either. People are being blacklisted from companies for speaking out against Israel, their faces being paraded through streets with threats made against them. Speaking out against Israel comes with significant risk, particularly for politicians and journalists - the proof is in the pudding, w…

> given your incredibly thinly veiled bias

What bias is that?

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#296

Post by greg_V »

partiallypro wrote: post #31

I'm sure the story is true, but I doubt it was effective. I don't think most politicians are really looking at their social media given most of it is trolling junk. I'm sure Russia/Iran/Hamas adjacent countries were doing the same. I just don't think they have been that effective in getting politician support. Direct lobbying or phone/email is much more effective than an online troll farm to get the attention of a po…

I'm not in the US but am familiar with some politicians here, and they too have a problem with recognizing that the feed they received is personalized, the comments are not representative, etc.

If you're wondering why politics sometimes seem out of touch, it's because politicians, their media and the commentariat are locked into an echo chamber already.

If I were an actor interested in influencing the policy of another country, why would I spend $$$ on manipulating the voting populace if I can poison the feed of the people who matter for far less?

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#297

Post by myth_drannon »

SimbaOnSteroids wrote: post #229

The wild part about this, at least to me, is the wholesale incompetence demonstrated by Israel in this regard. If I couldn't google the talking points the bots make and see Israeli officials saying the same things, one would think these bots were Iranians acting with the intent to make Israel look bad.

[flagged]

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#298

Post by dylan604 »

betaby wrote: post #248
sva_ wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wasn't there something with the Canadian military fighting (what they called) misinformation on social media during the pandemic? Seems like it's already ongoing.

Canadian government was the source of misinformation on social media during the pandemic! Literal curfews were in place with propaganda machine saying how good idea it was.

For purposes of conversation and allowing for a moment your idea is true, to what purpose was the curfews imposed? Who benefited? How? Why were the curfews necessary to achieve those goals?

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#299

Post by zdragnar »

I was part of a company that "hunted" terrorist groups that did this. Start with sympathizers publicly posting on Twitter, find who they are connected to, and fan out and cross reference to the people who are either organizing violence or running drug operations for funding.

I assume most countries with designs in foreign politics do much the same.

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#300

Post by chimpanzee »

bostik wrote: post #275
dfxm12 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Manufacturing Consent" was written in the 80s mostly in response to newspapers, but the ideas have been adapted to the Internet for some time (and talk radio, and cable news, etc.). I'm old enough to remember this from the Iraq war. Yeah, we didn't have microblogging back then, but there were Email campaigns, blogs, message boards, chat rooms, etc.

And let's keep in mind that the term "Public Relations" was explicitly chosen as a Newspeak-term because Edward Bernays realised that the actual term for a war time methodology, "propaganda", was too loaded.[0] And honest. Internet is a communications medium. It was destined to be flooded with propaganda, whatever you try to call your particular flavour. Or as I have been saying since the 1990's, the only difference…

> the only difference between marketing and propaganda is that with marketing at least you are trying to peddle a product instead of an ideology

Marketing often includes the peddling of an ideology as a foundation for the product buying, especially for big-ticket items. (One buys the product that fits and signals one’s ideology.) To me, this makes marketing even more insidious as we often focus on the product rather than the message. Think Ford, Tesla, Apple …

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