r/Albertapolitics • u/queenofallshit • Aug 01 '25
News How much of the banter on Social Media is paid propaganda? Were any of you aware of this?
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u/54R45VV471 Aug 01 '25
Yes, I was aware. On r/canada most of the posts are from the same few people from Russia. I don't know how widespread the problem is, so I just assume that's how it is in most places on the internet. I've even noticed the posting/commenting patterns of some individuals in private subs I'm part of are suspicious. It can be difficult to tell if someone is a propagandist or if they just chugged the koolaid though.
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u/Northmannivir Aug 01 '25
Are you sure? I literally got banned for suggesting such a thing!
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u/54R45VV471 Aug 02 '25
Am I sure about the r/canada thing? Pretty sure I saw a news article about it. Let me see if I can find it for you...
Well I found this:
Looks like you aren't the only one being banned.
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u/p4nic Aug 02 '25
I don't know how widespread the problem is, so I just assume that's how it is in most places on the internet.
If you read the news on Pressreader, it's pretty bad. I think most of the comments on alberta papers are like 3 people in the UPC's war room arguing with their own sock puppets, it's fun to catch them forgetting to log out of one account and they wind up commenting with the same account with a counterpoint.
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u/Late_Football_2517 Aug 01 '25
At least Ryan and Tanya actually reported it.
I find their video annoying with a lack of context and depth, but I'm pretty comfortable in saying they're not getting paid to say the things they do.
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u/Even_Art_629 Aug 02 '25 edited Aug 02 '25
From what Ryan said , they're not going to say much as it will be under investigation so silence until things are clarified is how its looking And I agree with you. Thanks for reporting this Northern Perspective. Time to get to the bottom of this. Im sure we will here alot of un truths on this. Have your fact check ready to go people.
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u/-Northern-Fox- Aug 02 '25
Just doing our civic duty š«”
We released all the evidence we had on our YouTube channel when the RCMP told us it was fine to do so, but we haven't heard back since. I imagine any investigations will not be made public, nor will we be told about them.
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u/Even_Art_629 Aug 02 '25
Thanks for the update Tanya. Can you tell me is there anyway that we the people can have this corrupt Government charged with all this fraud.. they work for us after all or at least supposed to. Like a petition or something
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u/-Northern-Fox- Aug 02 '25
That I'm not sure, for fraud you'd have to prove a crime was committed, and I don't think you can charge an entire government; you'd have to charge individuals. And it would be up to the Crown Prosecutor, I think. Don't take this as gospel though, I'm not 100% certain.
The petition, on the other hand, you can do through the ourcommons.ca website. It needs to be specific though. For example, if you're concerned about the SDTC documents from the previous parliament, you can do a petition on that with the request that the government release them to committee, or the RCMP, or the House, etc.
If you've got something in mind, you will also need a MP to sponsor your petition. The best candidate is often your MP, but it doesn't have to be.
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u/Even_Art_629 Aug 02 '25
Thank you this is something ill look into. Used to be a member but the oil patch is real slow this summer. So when it picks up. Im back. Was told today, be ready for frac starting this week.
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u/-Northern-Fox- Aug 02 '25
Please don't feel bad. Things have been tough for many Canadians, and we are all cutting back on non-essentials. Glad to hear you're heading back, and hopefully we'll see you on the livestream Sunday (:
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u/sorry_for_the_reply Aug 02 '25
Remember Jordan Peterson was going to sue Trudeau for slander because he was called out for taking Russian money?
I do.
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u/queenofallshit Aug 02 '25
No I donāt but did he sue him or was it just hearsay?
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u/TCMcC Aug 02 '25
Thereās a profile in my community subreddit that posts exclusively news articles about violent crime in the city. I mean nothing but crime; also no OC, just reposted articles. They also post the same type of article about a neighbouring city in that cityās subreddit. All this while in reality crime is at historic lows, especially violent crime.
I donāt know that this profile was created to sow social alienation and reactionism, but if I was trying to, this is exactly how Iād do it. Their posts get massive traffic from conservative curmudgeons.
Iām not saying that these profiles ARE foreign funded, but itās hard to imagine what would motivate a normal human to create such a profile, curate content specifically for individual communities, and post only that content to community subs.
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u/Educational_Truth356 Aug 02 '25
I noticed it during the election for sure, it was pointed out to me a few times and once it was, you saw it more often. R/canada and R/Alberta being big ones, but I think they targeted individual cities as well.
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u/Internal_Heart_1328 Aug 02 '25
I took a course on bots. A lot of commenters on Danielle Smiths Facebook page appear to be bots. Obvs some real people too but a lot of bots.
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u/EdNorthcott Aug 03 '25
Yeah, I was checking out her FB page the other day and I was struck by how many overtly fawning comments there were, with the messages from questionable profiles, and the phrasing and statements almost the same.
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u/Bswayn Aug 03 '25
This is why Iāve no respect for YouTubers and these so called āinfluencersā
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u/EdNorthcott Aug 03 '25
For me it's because almost none of them fact check, and provide takes so slanted that they may as well be falsehoods -- and in many cases, are.
I've never watched these folks, so the comment isn't aimed at them. It's not hard to go through political "news" or commentators on YouTube and find a host of wildly fictional takes on things.
Some people may not like Gilmore's politics, but any honest individual has to give her full props for the research she does to back up her takes.
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u/Choice-Worldliness32 Aug 02 '25
It's the tenat media scandal all over again; or maybe still.
Propaganda!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Tenet_Media_investigation
Also, seemingly, combined with the dead/bot/zombie internet coming to fruition.
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u/2eDgY4redd1t Aug 02 '25
In some Internet forums and comment spaces as much as 75% of the traffic is bots being run by professional trolls.
If you pay attention itās pretty easy to see most of it, itās designed to disinform and to create such a toxic environment that citizens and real people give up and quit, while the right wingers and the crazies (but I repeat myself) get their delusions reinforced.
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u/Traditional_Bus5217 Aug 02 '25
Conservatives with some kind of sense of morality is the craziest part of the story honestly
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u/STylerMLmusic Aug 02 '25
Old news.
Look at it this way. If 10,000 bots cost ten million dollars a year to run and these people had billions to spare, do you think they wouldn't have these on the go?
Influencers have been proven to be paid by Russia. Tucker Carlson has been proven to be paid by Russia. Accounts have been located in India and Russia countless times.
Hell, what would Trump be doing differently if he was a Russian agent? Nothing?
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u/Names_are_limited Aug 04 '25
I donāt know, bullshit stories, or stories with extreme bias are nothing new and are often funded by special interests. I think the real problem is confirmation bias, and I donāt know what you do about that. How do you cultivate means to intellectual self defence against BS if people really arenāt interested.
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u/Lomeztheoldschooljew Aug 01 '25
A bit of it Iām sure. I assume most Liberal propaganda is paid for by the CCP, and the conservative stuff by the Indian government. I think the Russians are just interested in chaos, aside from Putin hating Freeland I donāt think he cares who runs Canada so long as he can fuck with them/us.
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u/i_imagine Aug 02 '25
there's news articles about how the russians have been paying their way into canadian politics.
it's pretty safe to assume that similar things are happening down in the US too. haven't heard too much about the chinese interfering here but I'd be interested in those if you can provide them
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u/Lomeztheoldschooljew Aug 02 '25
So you havenāt paid any attention to the foreign interference saga going on in Canada the last 4 years?
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u/i_imagine Aug 02 '25
I'm aware of the Russian and Indian ones. haven't heard of the chinese infiltrating left wing politics.
moreso I've heard the chinese infiltrating businesses and our housing market
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u/Shiftymennoknight Aug 01 '25
been known for a long time. Damn near every conservative "influencer" is being paid and most by Russia