Is there a difference between writing the content yourself and upvoting fringe content with 1,000 fake accounts while suppressing the inverse with the same?

The fringe is emboldened and encouraged and given an artificial air of legitimacy. The challenge or alternative viewpoint is suppressed.

It is still psychological warfare and the key point isn't really the individual composing the post.

Though in all fairness - based on the articles about the IRA and the experiences I've had I do think that that they have individuals posting and writing their own content.

(for those that haven't read about the Internet Research Agency yet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Research_Agency)

They didn't attribute any kind of percentage to the bots. Just that the bots exist and the subs exist which are both bad.