• RoundSparrow @ .ee@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    Conspiracy theorists: crickets

    Agreed, FACTUAL EVIDENCE of a conspiracy theory is collected by reputable Johns Hopkins University and George Washington University and crickets. People flock to conspiracies with no evidence, but once one appears with authentic validation… nothing.

     

    Troll accounts that had attempted to influence the US election had also been tweeting about vaccines, a study says. Many posted both pro- and anti-vaccination messages to create “false equivalency”, the study found. It examined thousands of tweets sent between 2014 and 2017. Vaccination was being used by trolls and sophisticated bots as a “wedge issue”, said Mark Dredze from Johns Hopkins University. “A significant portion of the online discourse about vaccines may be generated by malicious actors with a range of hidden agendas,” said David Broniatowski from George Washington University. The researchers reviewed more than 250 tweets about vaccination from accounts linked to the St Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency (IRA). In February the agency was named in a US indictment over alleged election meddling.

    source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45294192

    • My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world
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      24 hours ago

      It’s because people love feeling like they’re privvy to a secret. The second it’s validated and becomes public knowledge, it’s no longer “privileged” knowledge and no longer makes them feel special for “knowing” a “secret truth”

      • RoundSparrow @ .ee@lemm.ee
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        23 hours ago

        The second it’s validated and becomes public knowledge, it’s no longer “privileged” knowledge and no longer makes them feel special for “knowing” a “secret truth”

        Ahh, the (2 thousand year old) Bible verse Romans 11:33 theory of James Joyce’s work ;)

    • takeda@lemm.ee
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      1 day ago

      Yes, covid was very potent tool enrolling those people to disinformation channels and groups.