Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction • Hacker News Board

Re: Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction

#31

Post by noobermin » Fri, May 18, 2018, 7:40 PM UTC

Lionsion wrote: post #15

imbokodo wrote: post #7

I have seen the US government doing this a lot. Example, whitewashing the No Gun Ri massacre on Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=No_Gun_Ri&diff=185... ). That one is from US Central Command Multi National Security Transition Team Iraq. Also have seen similar edits on Wikipedia from Ft. Benning/WHISC/SOA and so forth.

You should actually read the paper. An IP user making edits to a controversial Wikipedia page is nothing like what this paper is talking about. To summarize: 1. The Chinese government has a massive, coordinated effort to post on social media to serve their propaganda goals. 2. That effort attempts to distract from things they don't want people to consider, rather than just loudly pushing the party line.

The methods are interesting. It is worth noting however that it's not the any gov't wouldn't want to do this, or even doesn't.

Re: Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction

#32

Post by reaperducer » Fri, May 18, 2018, 7:41 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #8

"In contrast to prior claims, we show that the Chinese regime's strategy is to avoid arguing with skeptics of the party and the government, and to not even discuss controversial issues. We show that the goal of this massive secretive operation is instead to distract the public and change the subject, as most of the these posts involve cheerleading for China, the revolutionary history of the Communist Party, or other…

Kind of makes you wonder how many of these operatives on here on HN.

There are certainly blocs of people who downvote certain topics en masse.

Re: Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction

#33

Post by nothrabannosir » Fri, May 18, 2018, 7:41 PM UTC

foodislove wrote: post #22

[flagged]

The HN moderating skew on anything regarding China is palpable. Anecdotal, but I’ve witnessed it every single time I participated (both ways). And I systematically see posts buried which otherwise would not have been.

It’s becoming a nuisance, which is fine. But I fear what will happen if the trend continues. It may very well end up suffocating thoughtful discussion about China and their policies. Which, ironically, would make it all the more important to have those :)

I find myself wondering if it’s astroturfing or blind nationalism.

(I agree the comment about his wife is in poor taste, by the way :/ I would support an amendment to your post, but I guess that’s your call.)

Re: Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction

#34

Post by Lionsion » Fri, May 18, 2018, 7:42 PM UTC

vthallam wrote: post #28

foodislove wrote: post #22

[flagged]

I agree with a sibling comment, you put together a good observation about how the posts get down voted and eventually getting out of the first page every time, but I think you should edit the last comment about his Xi Jinping's Wife.

I agree as well. Maybe she's uneducated and unintelligent, I don't know anything about her, but there are more polite ways of saying that and it distracts from the overall point.

Re: Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction

#35

Post by malshe » Fri, May 18, 2018, 7:42 PM UTC

Lionsion wrote: post #4

malshe wrote: post #2

I can't access it on Harvard website any more. Luckily the paper is already published so if you have access to the journal, download it here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-s...

This link doesn't work for you? https://gking.harvard.edu/files/gking/files/how_the_chinese_... It's the "article" link on the page, and it works for me right now.

Now it is working!

Re: Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction

#36

Post by saagarjha » Fri, May 18, 2018, 7:42 PM UTC

MrLeap wrote: post #21

aj7 wrote: post #11

When the NY Times covered the Chinese robotic moon landing, it was in the top 10 stories for more than a week. In the most space-jaded country on the planet. The rating was sustained by constant comments by Chinese studying in the US and burnishing their reps with the Party. You can almost always make Chinese English, an AI program could be trained to do it. I wrote to their ombudsman. Down in a day.

What corpus did you train off?

Sounds very Markov-chain like, doesn’t it? But I think it’s just written in an annoying way: sentences that seem short, choppy, and cut off, with very little context to string them together.

Re: Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction

#37

Post by noobermin » Fri, May 18, 2018, 7:43 PM UTC

Lionsion wrote: post #24

genericone wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean the concept that: "Any/all organizations can/do seed a particular narrative to serve their strategic purposes" ?

I doubt it, since that's not at all what the paper describes. Here's a quote from the abstract: > In contrast to prior claims, we show that the Chinese regime's strategy is to avoid arguing with skeptics of the party and the government, and to not even discuss controversial issues. We show that the goal of this massive secretive operation is instead to distract the public and change the subject, as most of the these…

The method is different perhaps, which is interesting. I think that is an interesting point of discussion.

In terms of intent or morality or whatever, it's just a different method for propaganda. I don't see this as a different category for what other governments have done in the past.

Re: Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction

#38

Post by JohnJamesRambo » Fri, May 18, 2018, 7:43 PM UTC

aj7 wrote: post #11

When the NY Times covered the Chinese robotic moon landing, it was in the top 10 stories for more than a week. In the most space-jaded country on the planet. The rating was sustained by constant comments by Chinese studying in the US and burnishing their reps with the Party. You can almost always make Chinese English, an AI program could be trained to do it. I wrote to their ombudsman. Down in a day.

Very interesting. I always get that uncanny valley feeling even on Hacker News, especially when the comments concern China. This would explain a lot.

Re: Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction

#39

Post by reaperducer » Fri, May 18, 2018, 7:43 PM UTC

foodislove wrote: post #22

[flagged]

On HN it's not unique to China. Anything negative about India is downvoted into oblivion. You can almost time it to the rising of the sun in India Standard Time.

I'm not saying that it's being orchestrated by the Indian government, but it does happen.

Re: Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction

#40

Post by Lionsion » Fri, May 18, 2018, 7:43 PM UTC

foodislove wrote: post #26

ericjang wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the last remark about Xi Jinping's wife was uncalled for (I'm Taiwanese American).

Yet it is a fact. Not only do trolls seek to degrade and destroy freedom and democracy, they defend a bunch of corrupt morons who's only real ability is to either steal or exploit their own people.

It might be a fact (I don't know), but certainly it detracts from your point. I think you should edit out the stuff about her.