this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2024
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I am also confused by why there would be organized shills on Lemmy. But to me the evidence is pretty clear (e.g. an account that's super into talking about US politics that one day uses $5.000.000 with decimal points to separate thousands in a number, and people ask hey what's up with that are you not from the US? and they get hostile and pretend not to understand the question) (e.g. a strong correlation between accounts that say "Democrat party" and that want you not to vote for the Democrats claiming to come from a left wing point of view) (things like that).
IDK, there are a few tens of thousands of people on Lemmy; maybe it makes sense to allocate a single person from a troll farm to run a bunch of accounts. I have no idea. It also seems weird to me, I get what you're saying, but to me it does seem clear that quite a few of them are here.
There are lots of foreign people who take an interest in US politics, I don’t think that’s sufficient evidence personally.
But it’s really hard to prove or disprove anyone is a shill so who knows.
Yeah, that part makes perfect sense. Getting hostile and pretending not to understand the question is what seemed more damning to me about it.
You’re right that there’s no way to know for sure. But to me the circumstantial evidence is very strong.
Yeah I didn’t comment on that because I’d have to see the whole context to make an assessment. I’ve definitely been known to respond with hostility when accused of being a shill (though that rarely happens since my views don’t line up very well with any authoritarian groups that tend to be behind these efforts). So I could see a sarcasm or willfully playing dumb being mistaken for a different kind of obfuscation.
Here's the context for the thousands separator thing. They seem willfully committed to pretending not to understand the question or realize why it might be something someone would ask about, in a way that seems like a very unlikely way for a non-shill user to respond. To me.
Here's another one where the user is posting a pretty steady tide of propaganda (like, literally, videos from channels which are featured on rt.com) and not wanting to answer questions about what they're posting. I get that the questions aren't phrased real friendly-like, but they're not like random or senseless questions, and the user doesn't seem fazed at all by them or interested at all in the idea of demonstrating that they're posting in good faith.
I think it’s more likely that these are just weird people with weird posting habits. It’s totally plausible that there is a foreigner or immigrant who has a passionate interest in Palestinian topics and they didn’t want to engage with those questions which are phrased in a very hostile manner. Playing dumb is sometimes a fun way to respond to hostile people honestly. Drives them crazy.
But sure, they could be a shill. I can’t prove they’re not. I personally doubt it.