Re:We can have democracy or we can have Facebook
by MagnumOpus on Friday December 11, 2020 @10:46AM
(#25386992)
There needs to be nuance around "outnumbered".
The deplorables are made more visible and made to appear more popular by bot-assisted upvoting/retweeting/sharing efforts.
Non-deplorables are silenced or made to self-censor by mass-downvotes/death threats in DMs/doxxing. And even the ones who just view and don't write get disheartened and leave if their curated frontpage is a cesspool of falsehoods and outrage bait. So yes, bot farms and their manual brethren (wumao dang, IRA, alt-right discords) over time help to purge dissenting voices.
The deplorables are made more visible and made to appear more popular by bot-assisted upvoting/retweeting/sharing efforts.
Non-deplorables are silenced or made to self-censor by mass-downvotes/death threats in DMs/doxxing. And even the ones who just view and don't write get disheartened and leave if their curated frontpage is a cesspool of falsehoods and outrage bait. So yes, bot farms and their manual brethren (wumao dang, IRA, alt-right discords) over time help to purge dissenting voices.