First, I want to thank you for putting together such an extremely informative and detailed article educating and informing people about these operations. Ironically, I just wrote a similar but far, far less detailed and technical note 2 days ago attempting to warn and inform people as well. Since the election I have also noticed an alarming increase in these types of operations. However, I have been observing them on Youtube and, to a far lesser degree, here on Substack.
Here is my note should you care to glance at it...
Just a little back story, I've been using YouTube primarily for political and world news for about 10 years now. Over that time I have witnessed many different types of influence operations, some highly coordinated and some laughably pathetic. I've witnessed some that are clearly PR driven and some that are undeniably large scale, likely state sanctioned operations. However, what I've witnessed both in the run up to the last election, and far more so since it was called, has greatly surpassed anything I've ever witnessed before.
One observation I have found to be extremely alarming is that YouTube, just since a few days after Sundar Pichai's visit to Mar-a-Lago, appears to be filtering out any comments that so much as mention "influence operations", "paid trolls", "psy-ops", "foreign influence", or any similar terms or phrases. Interestingly, they don't swat my comments down immediately. Rather, there seems to be a delay of 2 - 3 minutes, just long enough that most users will have moved on and never realized their comments were purged.
Youtube seems to have also completely abandoned any effort to remove reported accounts, especially those that are clearly involved in these operations, and even when their comments blatantly violate the TOS. This was almost never the case prior to the election. Usually, when the comments clearly violated the TOS, click reporting them almost always led to them instantly being purged. That's no longer the case.
Finally, I've spent years trying to expose these operations and the accounts taking part in them any time I stumble upon them in YouTube comment feeds. Ultimately, my goal has always been to educate other users as to the existence of these operations, as well as exposing the accounts involved. As you know, when people are aware of these ops and understand who, or what, is behind the accounts involved, it significantly diminishes their effectiveness.
Sadly, in my experience, the vast majority of social media users are still completely unaware of these threats, how to spot them, and how to handle them. This is a vulnerability we must find a way to reduce. For now, I'm just going to continue trying to spread awareness however I can.
Anyways, I apologize for the long ass rant. Props again for this brilliant article!
Thank you, Jackie, for another excellent analysis! The depth and detail of the work you put into this lends credence to the your ID of the "suspects."
The question becomes - other than being more aware, what can be done about it?
Here's one possibility: we could try to propose a law that could leverage the anger against social media companies for all the damage they've done to kids especially, while offering a prescription that might mitigate the problem.
Example:
outraged that our kids are being preyed on by perverts on social media who use fake identities
accounts on social media need to use real names on their accounts
at a minimum each account should be tied to an actual individual human name
parents (or others who are outraged) should be able to send a demand (email, fax, letter, all) to the social media company
demanding the real name associated with the account
if the company cannot respond with the real name associated with the account within x hours, they need to take down the account. Permanently.
The last point here would be key:
Make it a criminal offense not to comply and
Make the criminal offense applicable to the CEO
In other words, heads of companies can be jailed for the legal actions taken by their companies
No more buying your way out of trouble with a fine
That last concept is a separate one that might coincide here, but I feel sure that there are many tens of millions of Americans who feel as I do - the letting CEO by the way out of trouble with fines is corruption, pure and simple.
Thanks for sharing, George. In my view, the main problem today is not policy–the problem set is unaccountable tech oligarchy maintaining power and control over federal regulatory agencies, fair and reasonable enforcement of regulations, and developing a culture of the same.
Excellent analysis Jackie. It's probably well above most people's heads, as a lot of tech related details can be, but it's enough for people who know enough to catch on and help develop an adequate disseminated solution to these sorts of issues. Keep up the great work!
A profoundly important, informative essay. Thank you, Jackie.
Thank you for the in-depth, granular analysis! 🤔
You’ve given a fresh perspective on picking ourselves up by our BOO—straps!!😄😄
First, I want to thank you for putting together such an extremely informative and detailed article educating and informing people about these operations. Ironically, I just wrote a similar but far, far less detailed and technical note 2 days ago attempting to warn and inform people as well. Since the election I have also noticed an alarming increase in these types of operations. However, I have been observing them on Youtube and, to a far lesser degree, here on Substack.
Here is my note should you care to glance at it...
https://substack.com/@wheelzofsteel/note/c-94946297?r=4otx7o
Just a little back story, I've been using YouTube primarily for political and world news for about 10 years now. Over that time I have witnessed many different types of influence operations, some highly coordinated and some laughably pathetic. I've witnessed some that are clearly PR driven and some that are undeniably large scale, likely state sanctioned operations. However, what I've witnessed both in the run up to the last election, and far more so since it was called, has greatly surpassed anything I've ever witnessed before.
One observation I have found to be extremely alarming is that YouTube, just since a few days after Sundar Pichai's visit to Mar-a-Lago, appears to be filtering out any comments that so much as mention "influence operations", "paid trolls", "psy-ops", "foreign influence", or any similar terms or phrases. Interestingly, they don't swat my comments down immediately. Rather, there seems to be a delay of 2 - 3 minutes, just long enough that most users will have moved on and never realized their comments were purged.
Youtube seems to have also completely abandoned any effort to remove reported accounts, especially those that are clearly involved in these operations, and even when their comments blatantly violate the TOS. This was almost never the case prior to the election. Usually, when the comments clearly violated the TOS, click reporting them almost always led to them instantly being purged. That's no longer the case.
Finally, I've spent years trying to expose these operations and the accounts taking part in them any time I stumble upon them in YouTube comment feeds. Ultimately, my goal has always been to educate other users as to the existence of these operations, as well as exposing the accounts involved. As you know, when people are aware of these ops and understand who, or what, is behind the accounts involved, it significantly diminishes their effectiveness.
Sadly, in my experience, the vast majority of social media users are still completely unaware of these threats, how to spot them, and how to handle them. This is a vulnerability we must find a way to reduce. For now, I'm just going to continue trying to spread awareness however I can.
Anyways, I apologize for the long ass rant. Props again for this brilliant article!
Boooooo them right off the stage!
Be so loud they eventually give up!
Intense, awesome revelation. Felt like I was being team briefed. Thank you.
It was my pleasure to brief you. Thank you so much for reading.
Thank you, Jackie, for another excellent analysis! The depth and detail of the work you put into this lends credence to the your ID of the "suspects."
The question becomes - other than being more aware, what can be done about it?
Here's one possibility: we could try to propose a law that could leverage the anger against social media companies for all the damage they've done to kids especially, while offering a prescription that might mitigate the problem.
Example:
outraged that our kids are being preyed on by perverts on social media who use fake identities
accounts on social media need to use real names on their accounts
at a minimum each account should be tied to an actual individual human name
parents (or others who are outraged) should be able to send a demand (email, fax, letter, all) to the social media company
demanding the real name associated with the account
if the company cannot respond with the real name associated with the account within x hours, they need to take down the account. Permanently.
The last point here would be key:
Make it a criminal offense not to comply and
Make the criminal offense applicable to the CEO
In other words, heads of companies can be jailed for the legal actions taken by their companies
No more buying your way out of trouble with a fine
That last concept is a separate one that might coincide here, but I feel sure that there are many tens of millions of Americans who feel as I do - the letting CEO by the way out of trouble with fines is corruption, pure and simple.
any company operator who knowingly
Thanks for sharing, George. In my view, the main problem today is not policy–the problem set is unaccountable tech oligarchy maintaining power and control over federal regulatory agencies, fair and reasonable enforcement of regulations, and developing a culture of the same.
Excellent analysis Jackie. It's probably well above most people's heads, as a lot of tech related details can be, but it's enough for people who know enough to catch on and help develop an adequate disseminated solution to these sorts of issues. Keep up the great work!
…technology takes this to a totally new level
…”Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”
Joseph Goebbels
What are they chanting? We want rail?
Why aren’t we doing that?