It's a common line of thought that often surfaces and it is listed in the HN guidelines as one of the things that should not be insinuated. So that's why your parent is getting downvoted.

Yes, there very much are, just a few examples:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-op...

https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Blackout2015/comments/4ylml3/reddit...

In the first article they claim to never "broadcast" with their sock puppets in English language, which was a legal barrier set by the Smith-Mund Act at the time, a barrier that was officially removed in 2012: https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/07/14/u-s-repeals-propaganda-...

Tbh I wouldn't be too surprised if those US and Five Eye programs are the first of their kind, yet they have a very easy time flying under the radar because for the most part it's a home-match for them: No Reddit, Twitter or Facebook will ban a bunch of US IPs for allegedly running "propaganda operations", yet with Iranian, Chinese, Russian and whatnot IPs that's a very regular thing.

Makes me wonder if Chinese or Russian platforms like WeChat or VKontakte ever banned a bunch of American IPs for similar reasons?