[P] I wish this was the kind of world where Reddit could be hit witb a big criminal investigation. For anyone who knows how to find the evidence (age of account, posting pattern, homogeneity of language across "different" accounts), it's 100% obvious that astroturfing on Reddit is ubiquitous. And the Reddit founders encourage astroturfing because they profit from it. They do all they can to enable it.

#psychology #actuallyautistic #criminal #law #illegal #astroturfing #reddit

RE: https://flipboard.com/@cbcnews/edmonton-5aq1688az/-/a-f0FOYkMVS4Ch76SvyRhs7w%3Aa%3A107108217-%2F0

Shocking.

Last year, Elections Alberta levied more than $120,000 in fines against TBA and Parker for violations of election finance law. The violations include failing to report income from fundraising activities, circumventing election advertising limits and knowingly making a false statement to the chief electoral officer.

The Elections Alberta disciplinary webpage says the fines have been referred to debt collectors, that TBA has appealed some findings, and some matters have been referred to the Crown for prosecution.

Edit: quoted post seems to be stuck in ‘post pending’ land. Link:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/political-organizer-from-separatist-group-not-co-operating-with-voter-list-investigation-elections-alberta-9.7196927

#ABPoli #TBA #DavidParker #QuislingTraitor #AstroTurfing

#Google is drawing some well deserved #backlash and #hatred for this move on fora like HN. But it's too little too late. Too many among us #betrayed the community by discrediting those who raised the #alarm when it was obvious that Google would try it again. Classic #astroturfing and #sockpuppeting.

[2/6]

"...The latest front is in Michigan, where the Ann Arbor Responsible Energy Coalition (A2rec) appears to be a local, grassroots organization opposing a public power campaign in the upper midwest city of about 123,000 people. But state filings show its mailing address was One Energy Plaza – the headquarters of DTE Energy, the deeply unpopular private utility giant that serves Ann Arbor...."

#astroturfing #climate

The Guardian: Powerful US utilities secretly fund ‘grassroots’ groups to sway cities away from switch to public power

As communities push for publicly owned electricity, private utilities may be deploying dark money and local front groups to stop them

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/07/us-utilities-fund-groups-against-public-power-lobby

#astroturfing #climateemergency #power

Powerful US utilities secretly fund ‘grassroots’ groups to sway cities away from switch to public power

As communities push for publicly owned electricity, private utilities may be deploying dark money and local front groups to stop them

The Guardian
Paramount Is Trying To Blame Netflix For All The Negative Merger Press

More than 4,000 Hollywood insiders recently signed a letter blasting Paramount’s planned $111 billion merger with Warner Brothers, noting that the massive consolidation will be very harmful t…

Techdirt

RE: https://mstdn.ca/@thetyee/116442798895036222

And no doubt this ‘content’ is being steered by the algorithm into to the faces of sedition-curious Albertans 24/7.

YouTube is just as much of a toxic shitpump as Twitter/X and FaceBook, yet it seems to largely get a pass because it’s so deeply embedded into people’s online lives. (That, and the billionaire oligarchs behind it keep a fairly low profile, unlike Musk and Zuck)

YouTube has done just as much (if not more) to destabilize democracy and radicalize folx as any of them!

#Misinformation #Disinformation #Propaganda #AstroTurfing #ABPoli #CDNPoli

There is so much of this BS reporting going on still, despite the #FossilFuelCrisis enabling #UsIsraelIranWar that is still happening. These #ClimateDeniers and #FossilFuelLobbyist are likely to keep it up to their graves…

“Spotlight, the so-called flagship current affairs program on the 7 network, dedicated more than an hour on Sunday evening on a report into the supply chains feeding into the renewables and EV industries, with a particular focus on cobalt mines in the Congo, and also activities in Australia. It was amplified on Murdoch and social media.
It fell over at the very first fact-check. “Every battery, every electric vehicle, every piece of so-called clean energy technology today” uses cobalt, reporter Liam Bartlett claimed at the start of the program.

Wrong.

Nearly every big battery installed in Australia these days uses (LFP) lithium iron phosphate chemistry, which means no cobalt, and no nickel (that’s relevant because Bartlett did a similar hit job on the nickel industry last year, using that as a platform to attack EVs and renewables).”

Read more:

https://reneweconomy.com.au/wild-attack-on-batteries-and-renewables-by-7s-spotlight-program-falls-over-at-the-first-fact-check/

#Cobalt #Nickel #DRC #AstroTurfing #DisinformationNetworks #antifa #EatTheRich

My home PV Battery is LFP

Wild attack on batteries and renewables by 7's Spotlight program falls over at the first fact check

TV program looking at appalling mining practices in Congo says it is a blight on the renewables and storage industry. But it falls over at the first fact check.

Renew Economy

#AI #deepfakes #propaganda #astroturfing #politics #GiftArticle

'The artificial-intelligence-generated fake influencers have surged on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube in an apparent bid to hook conservative voters.'

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/business/media/artificial-intelligence-trump-social-media.html?unlocked_article_code=1.cFA.OMz9.Ih5Jub6rM65r&smid=url-share

Hundreds of Fake Pro-Trump Avatars Emerge on Social Media

The artificial-intelligence-generated fake influencers have surged on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube in an apparent bid to hook conservative voters.

The New York Times