Reddit is typically the target of large scale pro-Russian propaganda shilling/submissions, and, as far as I know, not well-used by Russians. With that in mind, Russia isn't actually that serious about its "war on drugs"-- it's probable that this was just a cover story.
But along those lines, I would expect to see Russia block any other site that relies on user-submitted content. It's really hard to construct a narrative if everyone outside of Russia is saying something different.
http://toinformistoinfluence.com/2014/11/03/russian-propagan...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Chossudovsky#Criticism
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=259_1409830022
(Warning: full foil deflector beanie mode engaged!)
What do I mean by the vast array of oddly similar sock puppets? Just check your Facebook feed. You'll see a bunch of stories from sites with names like (I'm making these up but it would not surprise me if they were real) "organicrevolution.com", "upwithconsciousness.org", "globalspiritawakening.com". These sites carry a mix of conspiracy-tinged political news, "fear porn," and fluffy often new-agey click bait that looks designed to appeal to demographics that are "outside the mainstream." If I were a state propagandist targeting another state, that's who I'd single out to try to influence. (I wouldn't give two shits about their beliefs. We're talking realpolitik here.) These sites have a very stamped out look to them too, often with similar themes and designs and in some cases literally cloned content.
For one actual example, try www.naturalnews.com -- "America's Truth Bureau". It has a million sock puppet clones all over the web spewing sometimes word-for-word-identical stuff. Note the "carrier wave" of new-agey and fear-porn click bait and the undercurrent of propaganda.
I've been on the web since the late 1990s and I've really watched these sites spring up since around 2003-2004. The web's always had a lot of fringe and conspiracy content, but these sites are different. The style is different and the tone is different. Gone are UFOs, Roswell, the paranormal, or the other traditional tropes of www.fringe.com, replaced by what seems a different and more narrowly focused message.
It seemed to get really intense around 2010 when the original pioneers of this style were joined by what seems to be thousands of stamped out sock puppet sites. I'm not exaggerating much. I feel like I can spot links with this 'style' in a second, and the domains are always different with new ones constantly appearing.
The "old fringe" seems totally drowned out and marginalized now. I kind of miss it. It was a vital part of the web ecosystem. Where are my Roswell debris photos? (sniff sniff)
Whether the anti-vaxx and similar stuff is merely to lure a credulous demographic or whether it represents some actual propaganda push for some mysterious reason is interesting to ponder. Psychological warfare is a real subject of study. I can speculate that maybe someone thinks invoking fear and disgust at basic "tier one" things like the food supply and the health care system is a good way to sow deep distrust. And fluoride? Fluoride scare mongering is a thing on these sites! That was John Bircher anti-commie propaganda, so I wonder if someone in the Kremlin thinks it's freaking hilarious to remix it and spew it back at us.
It looks like the kind of web hydra that SEO-oriented content mills might churn out, but why? Who's writing those checks? Content mills and black hat SEO specialists definitely do not work for free. I guess it could be the alt-med industry, but we're talking about a now about ten year old octopus with many sock-covered tentacles. That's expensive. And why the political spin? Foil hats might be reasonable here, especially given the actual connections suggested in the links above.
If only there were actual investigative journalists who investigated things. Sigh.
BTW...
I am in no way implying that we should all become jingo pro-Americans and drop any "counterculture" ideas we might have. I'm just saying people need to not be naive about the fact that there is more than one propaganda apparatus in the world. Something tells me Putin's goal (if it is him) is not to raise global consciousness and usher in the Age of Aquarius. If it's the alt-med industry, their goal is to elevate your spirit by removing weight from your wallet.
How did I not hear about this story?!?
This isn't just fake news. It's a full-blown fake event. They created -- for a period of time -- a real live sort of virtual reality in which something happened that did not happen. Unlike earlier examples of fake history, this was live! A live breaking hoax!
... and of course, we absolutely can't assume that Russia is the only government or other agency doing this. That'd be fairly naive, especially given how easy it is and the potential both for offensive intelligence and profit.
Take that ball and run with it and it gets very, very dystopian. To make something up: what if Fukushima didn't happen? Obviously I'm not actually suggesting this, but as we live more and more in a digitally-informed reality how plausible does faking a world-changing event become? Could we be headed for a world where there will be large percentages of people walking around believing that totally imaginary things are happening? Think about it. What proof do you actually have that Fukushima occurred? Unless you live in Japan, the answer is: "not much."
This isn't new of course, but the Internet could definitely take it to the next level by allowing a much more realistic simulation of a real event to be delivered to a wider audience. Could you actually create a full blown parallel universe and lure a good number of people into it?
We're sort of there already. There are whole weird pockets of people who think all kinds of strange things that are... umm... unlikely. But the scary nightmare fuel here for me is the idea of this being industrialized and well-financed. The potential for mass manipulation is kind of freaky. Now throw specialized AI sock puppets into the mix that can impersonate millions of people discussing the same non-realities and non-events. It's mechanized information warfare -- to old propaganda it's like comparing a machine gun to a musket.
How many years would you say we are away from the first AI-powered industrial scale hoax delivered say... the day of an election? There'd be two choices: let the hoaxers sway the election, or cancel the election and play into their hands in another way.
Also, there's the RT vs Fox dynamic. RT does lots of crazy stuff, from New Age to Tea Party. So sometimes Fox and RT are spreading the same memes. Very strange.
[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20110222010732/https://www.fbo.g...
Most of the modern Russian internet propaganda is easy to find, and rarely goes deeper than a bathtub. What is interesting is that they are clearly targeting the left and right leaning populations within the US quite differently. The right is targeted with clumsy racial incitement whereas the left is targeted with clumsy "environmentalist" incitement. There is a ton of overlap, but I bet you can hammer out these separate phyla of propaganda targets quite easily.
It's pretty hard to tell how effective these propaganda campaigns are in riling up the target groups because they're mainly pushed by shills. Are the crowds of Putin apologists on Reddit actually Westerners who have come to believe (via propaganda) that Putin really is innocuous, or are they the same three people trying to fabricate a consensus? If I had to put my money on it, I'd say the latter. The propagandists give the public discussion a big shove in the right direction, then it's the useful idiots who believe them that have to carry it into the minds of the public in a durable way.
What we don't see is positive mentions of Russia in day to day real life conversations, meaning that the propaganda has poor staying power, even if it reaches saturation in certain audiences. I'm being a little unfair here since my sample size is only the people I know who are informed (very few), but even the rabble who can't think for themselves aren't singing praises to Putin-- probably because the US propaganda saturation has been much higher for many more years, conferring resistance to certain types of outsider propaganda.
I really like thinking about this stuff.
These are folks who have always been kind of out there and fringe, but this is different and it's a bit disturbing. They've become mean-spirited in an odd kind of way that I've never seen associated with the fringe before (outside of certain conspiracy circles), and have started espousing stuff that sounds slightly to the right of Hitler despite having historically been left of center. The ideology sounds like a cross between radical environmentalism and neo-right eugenics stuff, like Rachel Carson and Julius Evola had a love child that was raised by Steve Sailer. One even started admiring ISIS, claiming that all the stories of their misdeeds are Western propaganda. It's depressing and a bit scary.
Propaganda is real and it works, and anyone can be conned. A lot of 'alt' people pride themselves on their independence. Thinking you can't be conned makes you a better mark.
The problem with the analysis you give is that the goal of the propaganda may not be to inspire pro-Putin or pro-Russia feelings in Americans. The goal may be to make Americans more angry, cynical, irrational, and distrustful of their own government, institutions, and each other.
The race baiting is probably the most dangerous element of the propaganda. I wonder if there's any causal relationship between it and the outbreak of police violence and reciprocal radicalism we're seeing.
On the other hand, how much of the race baiting on the alt news sites is organic? How much of it would still be around if it wasn't the hot topic that everyone is being forced to pay attention to via the media?
Finally, what is the real long term strategic goal of these propaganda campaigns? It's hard to see foreign propaganda ever being successful enough to deliver a geopolitical victory.
I completely agree about there being more than one actor here. I just suspect Russia has a non-trivial role in the phenomenon I mention in my OP. The bottom line is that today's Internet is loaded with bullshit and propaganda and as time goes on seems to become less and less trustworthy as a source of information. That's a big problem.
https://www.reddit.com/r/UkrainianConflict/comments/3gr44w/r...
Either way, in this case I'd bet on incompetence rather than political play.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8401784 — relevant HN submission