Oof. I just want to say as a Jew that is constantly trying to dispel the myth of Jewish media conspiracies, Zuck really isn't doing us any favors here.
this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
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As a guy wholly descended from the peoples of the British Isles, I have a similar feeling, only in my case, it really is true that my people have trashed the world for their personal benefit.
Granted that the Irish side of my family was never entirely on board.
And not all Jewish people support Israel! I have to assume many understand what's going on and side with Palestine.
Yes, I'm one of them. But again, that's not the audience I'm worried about. I'm not worried about what the mainstream thinks of Jews, or Jews think of Jews, I am worried about the feedback loop between far right influencers who promote conspiracy theories and the disaffected media consumers that they radicalize into violence. This kind of behavior is fuel for a very dangerous cycle.
I don't disagree with this. Far right radicalization is a huge problem.
I've been to Jewish gatherings where they had duplicates of some food products because half of them insisted on eating an Israeli brand and half of them refused to.
And not all the people that support Israel are Jewish nor are being paid by Jews to do so. Many understand that Hamas is a fascist regime and simply don't like fascism.
Well, not so much a conspiracy, but Israel is employing social media propaganda, similiar to the infamous russian "troll factories". It was often very well noticeable on reddit, as sometimes two different accounts posted the exact same comment with pro Israeli talking points. Their main target is facebook and other large plattforms though.
Any sources on any of that?
I often saw this parroted on Reddit, though without sources. What I didn’t see, is what you described as “very well noticeable” - and I used Reddit a lot.
Anytime I look up this stuff I can only find relevant information from obscure websites which don’t list any sources. This honestly does seem like a conspiracy.
First and third links clearly state that these students are volunteers, and also a fairly small amount of them. (Also doesn’t seem like trolling necessarily)
Second link seems promising, but it offers almost no details, and its source is HaAretz, an Israeli publication which I personally don’t trust (also the source article is behind a paywall).
Last link is about a private company and seems only slightly related.
Not really strong evidence of Israel running “Russian troll factories”.
Does it matter, whether the people are volunteers, paid or coerced? The fact stands that Israel is making a concerted effort to influence social media in their favor.
I find it a bit silly, that you want proper sources and then just say you don't trust a major Israeli newspaper without further explanation. Especially since the BBC deemed it credible as a source.
For the last link how is it "only slightly related?" It is a private company that is operating from Israel, run by ex-intelligence people, influencing elections world wide. This kind of things are not sold with a google add, but instead require extensive networks and contacts. It is implausible, that the company operated without the knowledge and approval of the Israeli government. Also the article states that the company was promoted on the website of the Israeli ministry of defense. Finally Israeli intelligence has proven competent in many activities around the globe, but in particular in regards to digital activities (stuxnet). There is no reason to belief that they wouldn't have picked up on one of their former employees running these kind of activities.
I doubt that Israel makes no effort to influence social media.
I just think the effort made isn’t very big, and with the presented evidence this seems true. I don’t feel like looking through them again to pinpoint where exactly but some of the articles you shared flat out admit Israel isn’t very good at shaping public opinion.
Point 1 is kinda pedantic wouldn’t you say?
No.
The original comment in this subthread claimed Israel was running troll factories similar to Russia’s, and on a scale large enough for it to be noticeable on Reddit, while also claiming Reddit isn’t even the main focus of those trolls.
Point 1 basically goes to show that while Israel does attempt some social media influence, it appears to be at a far smaller scale then originally claimed.
In all honesty, I’d be surprised if there are many developed countries which don’t do this to some extent, so in my eyes singling out Israel in this case seems a bit weird.
Okay, I can see why that correction would maybe argue specifics against being 1:1 with Russian troll factories but even you just said the magic word: “similar to” which is obviously pretty loose, hence my distaste for the pedantics.
Overall, I agree though - most countries should be doing this just to counteract other countries doing this until we can start calling out ourselves for doing these things
change yourself, change the world and that
At this point it's a given that any nation state with an interest in PR has their online troll teams.
Assumptions assumptions
He's and asshole regardless of his lineage, not because of it. Just so you know someone else out here has a little grounding in reality.
Thanks, though unfortunately it's not people like yourself (who understand such things) that worry me.
i still wait for the day when i can criticize the state of israel and some of it's policies without getting branded as an antisemite.
You can. I do. As a Jew and as someone who has family living in Jerusalem who all hate Bibi and what he stands for. Fuck Bibi and fuck the Knesset. And fuck Zuck too.
Im Austrian, so im basically forbidden to speak such heresies.
If you're talking about Lemmy users, I think that day is already here. If you're talking about far right Zionists and ultraorthodox Jewish supremacists, then never. Between these two ends is where you find the mainstream gatekeepers of information like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerburg, the Sulzburger family (who own the NYTimes), Jeffrey Bezos (who owns the Washington Post), etc.
I think the democratization of information is probably the most important step towards creating space to speak openly about human rights abuses anywhere, regardless of how powerful the people responsible are.
"Al Jazeera Arabic presenter Tamer Almisshal has had his Facebook profile deleted by Meta 24 hours after the programme Tip of the Iceberg aired an investigation into Meta’s censorship of Palestinian content titled The Locked Space.
The programme’s investigation, which aired on Friday, included admissions by Eric Barbing, former head of Israel’s cybersecurity apparatus, about his organisation’s effort to track Palestinian content according to criteria that included “liking” a photo of a Palestinian killed by Israeli forces."
Deplatforming journalists, or anyone, is a terrible thing to do.
This saga won't be over till Boomers are out political post on both sides. Boomer generation are known not to negotiate on any issue, even of it benefits them
Is his name really Tear MyAsshole? Wack.
I know it's supposed to be a bad joke but it's ta-mer al-miss-h*al .
*The sound of this letter doesn't exist in English.
Even so, Al Jazeera is a notoriously unreliable and manipulative news outlet directly controlled by the Qatari state and partially responsible for much of the current disarray that the Arabian peninsula and North Africa are experiencing since over a decade by now. They're spewing out Qatari propaganda around the clock
This is the reason why Gab is better than Facebook.
Gab is cancer. Better stay away from bigotry-ridden websites.
Gab wouldn't deletes Al jazeera presenter's profile after showing criticising israel like Facebook did.
good