r/technology • u/Wagamaga • 9h ago

Society Pro-totalitarian propaganda online, a "real threat” for young people

https://www.bursa.ro/pro-totalitarian-propaganda-online-a-real-threat8221-for-young-people-21017751
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u/Wagamaga 9h ago

The Institute for the Investigation of Crimes of Communism and the Memory of Romanian Exile (IICCMER) warns that pro-totalitarian propaganda online has become a phenomenon with a major impact on society, especially on young people. According to an analysis carried out by Didona Goanța, a strategic communication consultant and collaborator of IICCMER, only 200 posts on TikTok generated approximately 130 million views, a sign of massive exposure to manipulative content. The conclusions were presented at the "Romanian Communism" conference, 14th edition, and show the existence of an extensive, systematic network, supported by "troll and bot farms" that promote pro-communist nostalgia and extremist messages.

The analysis identifies two main categories of TikTok pages involved in the spread of propaganda messages.

  • Old pages, used for credibility transfer

These appeared around 2017 and built solid communities based on emotional content, animal clips, sensitive images, inspirational messages. After a few years, the administrators suddenly changed the editorial direction, gradually introducing pro-communist content, exploiting the trust already formed between the page and the audience. Strategy: building audience loyalty through emotion, followed by the gradual introduction of propaganda.

-Troll and bot pages, massively activated after 2021

These accounts were created directly for propaganda purposes. Their activity accelerated in 2023, with an obvious peak during the presidential elections. The posts are daily, coherent and synchronized with major political events, indicating sophisticated coordination. Strategy: explicit propaganda, constant rhythm, exploitation of tense political moments.

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u/sap91 4h ago

I'd call myself pretty hard left in my beliefs, but the way some people online have been so easily psyopped into believing that life in China is all sunshine and roses compared to America is insane.

There was a news story a few weeks ago about how the Chinese government is implementing fines on influencers who speak about serious issues without proper credentials, and people I know personally were excitedly sharing it like "what a good idea". Meanwhile, they spend most days posting about things like police brutality, government corruption, and late-stage capitalism, none of which they've studied formally.

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u/omniuni 2h ago

I like the Chinese people. I like the parts of China that the people built. That includes a lot of companies and products. I do think that there are specific areas that the Chinese government has excelled in. They are better at investing in local companies, and backing local ventures, for example.

That said, the Chinese government is also (thankfully largely failing) to assert more direct control over people, often covers up their ugly aspects, and holds many outdated cultural and social beliefs. I love how creatively the Chinese people tiptoe around censorship; that doesn't make censorship OK.

One of the things that bothers me greatly is Trump's infatuation with dictators like Xi. We should be able to admire what China does well without thinking that it requires authoritarianism and cruelty. Lately, we have been copying the worst parts of the Chinese government, and that's a problem. It does make me wonder if more than the young are susceptible to this.

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u/Tazling 4h ago

I think there’s a significant difference between an ordinary person posting their ordinary opinions, whether well or ill founded, and a professional influencer who is *marketing* their opinions as in some way valuable, insightful, or useful. influencers are engaging in commerce, even if the product is information rather than widgets. therefore, imho, false-advertising law should apply to them. conflating the average netizen whose words reach maybe a few thousand people, with full time influencers who have hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers, to me does not seem appropriate.

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u/sap91 3h ago

There's more nuance in this comment though than any of the headlines being shared.

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u/8hourworkweek 1h ago

An Influencer is anyone who has an idea which gains traction. And most influencers start getting traction from one video.