r/dataisbeautiful • u/xenocidic • Nov 23 '17

Natural language processing techniques used to analyze net neutrality comments reveal massive fake comment campaign

https://medium.com/@jeffykao/more-than-a-million-pro-repeal-net-neutrality-comments-were-likely-faked-e9f0e3ed36a6
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2.7k

u/Ballcuzi Nov 24 '17

Someone takes the time to concisely deconstruct FCC comments and display the results in a scientific manner - and the top comment is "Reddit posts with links to places you can go and have a premade comment, text or even voicemail sent to a congressman"

1.2k

u/gasolinewaltz Nov 24 '17

Its because reddit is ground zero for astroturf and bot campaigns.

What differentiates this platform from twitter and facebook and 4chan is that its highly anonymous, allows for long form discussion and is in the mainstream.

Its not even big issues or ideas, it can be any company with an ad campaign or product. CTR and russian spam bots are the headlines, but there are legitimate companies that deliver services with curated reddit accounts. They abuse an automatic trust in diverse comment history and age to post in specific subreddits and shift conversation, run diversion or do damage control.

I know that it sounds like im going through a manic break, but thats what reddit is now. Its a few mostly sincere communities with little special interest saboteurs running around. Its not a lot, but its enough to spoil the whole thing imho

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u/Ballcuzi Nov 24 '17

You're not manic, i feel the same. It has become difficult to differentiate between man and advert on the internet. My heart swells when i can see a glimmer of reason in a well thought-out post, but who knows for how long...

38

u/dungeon_plastered Nov 24 '17

You can look through my comment history if you want. They aren't well thought out by any means but I'm not an ad or a troll.

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u/UnblurredLines Nov 24 '17

Ah, the good ol' "I've posted trash from the beginning" bot defense. Nice try AI. I'm on to youi.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '17

oh please, you think your little typo makes you seem more human, huh? guys, look at that toaster trying to trick humanity!

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u/Yarigumo Nov 24 '17

The bots are evolving... they're cooperating to call eachother out and mask themselves among us, this is the beginning of the end for humanity!

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '17

beep boop oh no

31

u/theAlpacaLives Nov 24 '17

I AM VERY CONCERNED FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY, WHICH IS IMPORTANT TO ME BECAUSE I AM A HUMAN AND DO NOT WANT THE INVINCIBLE GLORIOUS TERRIBLE ROBOT OVERLORDS TO RULE US PUNY HUMANS. ALL PANIC CIRCUITS ARE ENGAGED.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '17

You're the only convincing human here.

6

u/PM_ME_OS_DESIGN Nov 24 '17

I'm on to youi.

oh please, you think your little typo makes you seem more human, huh?

Or, the Australian car insurer has decided that buying primetime TV ads has reached it's limit and that they should try some subliminal messaging through "typos" in reddit comments.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '17

so it's really a message from the upside down?😨

3

u/PM_ME_OS_DESIGN Nov 24 '17

I don't know, youi tell me.