created by BananaLlama on 15/03/2020 at 00:47 UTC*
458 upvotes, 18 top-level comments (showing 18)
I wanted to post this here to raise some awareness. It seems to me that a large network of left-leaning subreddits may have been founded with the express intention of controlling the message to divide Democratic voters and ensure a victory for Trump.
Looking at this users history[1] shows that they have been preparing to post this type of active measure content for a long time. They are moderators of the following left leaning sub-reddits:
1: https://www.reddit.com/user/lrlOurPresident
Their posted content appears to be exclusively copy/pasted spam videos smearing Joe Biden. They encourage other users to post #NeverBiden material. Any comments pointing out that Biden is a better option than Trump, or the importance of a Democratic win for the Supreme Court, are deleted and that user shadow banned.
Comment by Agent_03 at 15/03/2020 at 13:33 UTC
42 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I think it's equally possible they're a political operative in the US.
Comment by Kahzgul at 15/03/2020 at 07:40 UTC
49 upvotes, 1 direct replies
A bunch of these subs seem like they were created as part of an active measures campaign. r/sunlight, in particular, I’ve only ever seen pushed by people who had very suspicious accounts (franks, or accounts posting conflicting info such as “as a gay man” in one post and “as a lesbian from Miami” in another).
Comment by BananaLlama at 15/03/2020 at 06:33 UTC
47 upvotes, 2 direct replies
This is a serious problem. I'm not sure who I can raise this with.
Comment by narrative_device at 15/03/2020 at 01:00 UTC
67 upvotes, 2 direct replies
It's 2016 all over again.
Are there really that many redditors who really can't see that "neverbiden" is just a shitty shorthand for "fuck yeah, four more years of Trump and fuck the Supreme Court for a litteral lifetime, because who needs rowe v wade?
Comment by [deleted] at 15/03/2020 at 14:51 UTC
21 upvotes, 3 direct replies
[removed]
Comment by bearlick at 15/03/2020 at 06:28 UTC
13 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I'd believe it.
Comment by LloydVanFunken at 29/03/2020 at 15:23 UTC
7 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I pointed out that IrlOurPresident was spamming content[1]. I was shadowbanned and when I sent a personal reply I was locked out of the particular subreddit.
1: https://old.reddit.com/user/lrlOurPresident
Comment by PropagandaTracking at 12/05/2020 at 22:00 UTC
7 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Definitely shadow banning and removing comments that "dissent" and by dissent, I simply mean point out basic facts. I was just shadow banned from one of their subreddits today for simply quoting an article that was linked.
Why? It was an anti-Biden post created through a partial screenshot of a tweet. The real tweet had a link to an article. The actual article acknowledged Biden rejected the very policy that the tweet was trying to showcase as Biden supporting. By seeing the actual article, and the quote, you would enable people to know Biden did NOT support said policy.
I don't even like Biden, but spreading misleading propaganda is not cool. So yeah, simply posting a quote of the source material is some how ban worthy.
Comment by [deleted] at 24/03/2020 at 14:13 UTC
7 upvotes, 1 direct replies
You can read mine and others comments throughout these two threads for more info on this guy:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Against_Astroturfing/comments/chgf4q/the_return_of_chickenpeak/
TLDR: He's probably just an "extremely online" individual who enjoys politics and likes to promote his favorite topics and candidates. But he does manipulate the system to boost his subs and posts.
Comment by PoorPineapple at 15/03/2020 at 06:04 UTC
17 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I’ve been wondering about this for a while.
Comment by malignantbacon at 15/03/2020 at 13:33 UTC
13 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Bad faith moderation is how they turned the_donald and the rest of the right wing subs into a total echo chamber too, regardless of who his handlers might be.
RES tag him with a reason and date and then pay attention when he does the deeds again. See who else plays with him and how.
Comment by SojourningTruth at 15/03/2020 at 11:51 UTC
9 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This is really good research. Thanks for sharing it.
Comment by [deleted] at 13/04/2020 at 18:05 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
This might be a month old but good work. A bunch of the original Bernie subs in 2016 were run by people who worked for Bernie’s campaign and nobody cared.
Comment by [deleted] at 15/03/2020 at 04:23 UTC
16 upvotes, 3 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by Boomslangalang at 15/03/2020 at 09:29 UTC
12 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This is absolutely happening. The amount of “principled” progressives spreading this crap is disturbing. We get it - you’re not excited about Biden, but Bernie has failed to win over anyone but the youth vote which has failed to turn out for him.
Something must be done.
Comment by BlastVox at 09/05/2020 at 18:12 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This has to be against Reddit's content policy at least in some way. Which rule specifically would it be a good idea to report them violating? Or should we DM or @ a reddit admin?
Comment by TomHardyAsBronson at 15/03/2020 at 18:05 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Yes I think they’re a propagandist through and through.
Comment by Moral_Metaphysician at 15/03/2020 at 15:32 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I agree completely. Thank you for being awake.
Those smears are precisely what Sanders himself begs his supporters not to do.
The ruthless cruel trolling of Biden serves Trump and gives ammunition to corporatist democrats to attack Sanders over the cruel behavior of his supporters.
The problem is, since there are hundreds of thousands of users of those subs, and that exposes a measure of credulity on the part of democratic socialists.
There doesn't seem to be enough people who are aware. There are not enough adults in the room to call it out and shut it down.
The DSA should make specific announcements regarding this troll campaign.
No anti-racists, anti-fascists, or working democratic socialists are calling Biden "Dementia Joe".
There's no way to say there are not Sanders supporters attacking Biden in the most crudest and cruelest of manners.
A moderator is an authority for the ideology of that group. All of those groups smearing Biden are dedicated to Bernie Sanders and democratic socialism.
If it doesn't get called-out, it means there are no adults in the movement.
People who can think above the level of adolescence must necessarily step-up to address the issue. Thank you for being one of those.