Post AbPCJaMkpgkiYDZ3xo by redfish@emacs.ch
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 (DIR) Post #AbPCJaMkpgkiYDZ3xo by redfish@emacs.ch
       2023-11-02T14:56:13Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       Finished @kissane 's excellent Meta in Myanmar series today: https://erinkissane.com/meta-in-myanmar-part-iv-only-connectThe whole series is worth reading, but since we're on Mastodon, if you read only one part, read part 4 (linked above). IMO the key takeaway here is that Meta/Facebook certainly did a lot of really irresponsible/evil/incompetent stuff that facilitated manipulation, but "decentralized" does not automatically mean "invulnerable to manipulation".At best, decentralized is "invulnerable to certain kinds of manipulation"—but advanced propaganda operators have more resources, more skills and more energy today than ever before to execute both sophisticated and long-running actions. (Perhaps not entirely dissimilar to how "advanced threat groups" employ both highly targeted weapons-grade exploits on targets they care about, as well as massive less-targeted campaigns with dumb-but-effective exploits to stock up on initial footholds.)