this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2024
249 points (100.0% liked)

Fediverse vs Disinformation

584 readers
503 users here now

Pointing out, debunking, and spreading awareness about state- and company-sponsored astroturfing on Lemmy and elsewhere. This includes social media manipulation, propaganda, and disinformation campaigns, among others.

Propaganda and disinformation are a big problem on the internet, and the Fediverse is no exception.

What's the difference between misinformation and disinformation? The inadvertent spread of false information is misinformation. Disinformation is the intentional spread of falsehoods.

By equipping yourself with knowledge of current disinformation campaigns by state actors, corporations and their cheerleaders, you will be better able to identify, report and (hopefully) remove content matching known disinformation campaigns.


Community rules

Same as instance rules, plus:

  1. No disinformation
  2. Posts must be relevant to the topic of astroturfing, propaganda and/or disinformation

Related websites


Matrix chat links

founded 5 months ago
MODERATORS
 

This one's a few days old, but I thought it was a good read.

[...] He dismissed the “idea that the American model of private insurance is uniquely evil and engaged in acts of social violence because it denies people too much treatment,” maintaining that all insurance systems, public or private, ration care.

But as I noted in the earlier FAIR article, the Commonwealth Fund (NBC, 9/19/24) found that the US system does, in fact, stand out among other peer nations, ranking “as the worst performer among 10 developed nations in critical areas of healthcare.” Those areas the US falls short in include “preventing deaths, access (mainly because of high cost) and guaranteeing quality treatment for everyone.” The rest of the world is doing better than us on these scores, contrary to Douthat.

Americans see the systems working in the rest of the world and know that the United States could have a better healthcare regime, but that corporate and government leaders simply choose not to.

Visit us @ !fediverse_vs_disinfo@lemmy.dbzer0.com for all the latest news on the topics of astroturfing, propaganda and disinformation.

top 37 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 91 points 6 days ago (1 children)

america's system doesn't cover everyone, and still costs twice as much per capita.

we could literally halve our overall health care expenditures as a nation, deny fewer services, treatments and drugs, and cover more people (everyone).

while that extra $2.4 trillion a year no longer spent on health care profits would be one helluva booster shot for the economy.

[–] ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 39 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Y'all cancelled NYT over their coverage of the People's approval of cancelling United Healthcare CEO's Life plan.

I cancelled NYT since they constantly peddled lies to get the US to attack Iraq in the 2000s.

And stopped giving AF with their overwhelmingly negative bias against trans people.

[–] krathalan@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 5 days ago

Thank you for posting sources

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 43 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The US has the highest preventable death rate of any developed country. Those are deaths for which there is treatment but for whatever reason the treatment was not applied.

You can not square that with, "but every system rations care!" There's rationing and there's starvation diets.

[–] schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business 17 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It's not JUST rationing, either.

Some of it is the HMO stupid shit we've let ourselves be subject to.

As an example, I was hospitalized with heart failure. It was great: insurance paid for everything and it was all nicely taken care of.

Except, after leaving the hospital, I had some vision issues.

I had to go to my PCP, who sent me to an ophthalmologist, who sent me to an eye surgeon, who sent me to a neurologist, who sent me back to the ophthalmologist, who sent me back to the eye surgeon, who then referred me for imaging, and then scheduled and performed a surgery that fixed my shit.

This sounds like a victory for medical science, except for one itty bitty teeny weeny little problem: it took 17 months to do that.

Had this been something other than 'I went cross-eyed', and way more serious, then yes, the odds of dying in that time would probably be pretty damn high.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago

Yup and that entire scheme is meant to make people drop out and not get the surgery they need.

[–] AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works 30 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I cancelled my NYT sub and wrote, among many things, that Bret Stephens article was absolute bullshit.

On the feedback survey I received later asking if I'd come back, I repeated myself.

They offered a discount and I said fuck off.

I know it's probably whatever, but I guess part of me hopes someone actually reads them.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago (1 children)

but I guess part of me hopes someone actually reads them.

Unfortunately, that's incredibly unlikely these days, unless there's a mass exodus. Everything is automated now. They don't give two shits about the individual, or even the subscription of thousands of individuals. It has to significantly lower their revenue for them to take notice or read any feedback.

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Then all the better when the mass exodus does happen, someone finally reads them and we can laugh as they had the chance to know all along.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I cancelled and did the same, but I still haven’t received a confirmation email that they said they would send. Im curious to see if I will have to fight with them next month, it wouldn’t shock me.

[–] AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 days ago

I received mine the next day...check spam maybe?

Good on ya for cancelling.

[–] inv3r5ion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Try all they want, they’re not putting this cat back in the bag.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 11 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Sorry man, I used up all of my optimism in 2020. I'll believe something is changing after it changes, and even then I'll wait until it's done, and not overthrown at 0 hour by a conservative supreme court.

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 6 points 6 days ago

It took the Syrian people 14 years to free themselves from Assad. If you apply yourself you can free yourselves from predatory scammy private insurance in less time than that.

[–] inv3r5ion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 days ago

Once upon a time people believed in the divine right of kings. We’re overdue for a reckoning.

[–] sxan@midwest.social 11 points 6 days ago (2 children)

They will. They'll start saturating the news about immigrants eating cats, or about how liberals are trying to turn your kids into transvetites, or something to turn groups within the classes against each other... and it'll work. It has before. Remember Occupy Wall Street? It started out with conservative right wingers side-by-side with lesbian feminists, and it didn't take any effort at all before all of the infighting destroyed the movement. Since then, the blue collar vs liberal rhetoric has been amped up so much, fucking Trump got elected a second time.

This too shall pass, and at the end, you'll be paying premiums for no benefits because it'll be illegal to not to.

They mocked "Sheeple" until it was widely accepted as absurd, but Sheeple is the fundamental truth. Led as lambs to slaughter.

Immigrants eating cats would be cat out of bag, unless they ate the bag whole with the cat still in it.

[–] inv3r5ion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This is different. This is system is literally killing people. They’re not gonna be distracted by stupid shit this time. OWS people lost their houses not their lives. Healthcare people are losing their lives.

I remember OWS, I was a part of it. My mom gets all her news from liberal MSM tv news, and despite me physically being there she believed the false TV narrative over my own. I fucking hate the media. I’ve hated them since they manufactured consent post 9/11.

[–] sxan@midwest.social 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I really hope you're right, but I fear the only people learning from history are the powerful. They look at what happened during the French Revolution, and what success Goebbles had, and how, and which of China's and Russia's approaches work, and are pretty effectively executing it. Again, my most recent proof is the last presidential election (not that Kamala is some sort of leftist champion, but Democrats have been lagging in the propaganda game for decades).

I hope you're right, but I think you're not. Lemmy is an echo chamber, and I like the echo, but I'm not under any illusions that it represents the majority. Luigi supporters may be noisy, but I think they're a minority.

[–] inv3r5ion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 days ago

Lemmy is a liberal echo chamber as seen by the support for the do nothing democrats.

They lose elections intentionally. People are fed up and don’t give a shit about government or democracy anymore. Dangerous times ahead. We’re going towards more violence.

And our rulers are entirely responsibility for making peaceful reform impossible violence will become inevitable.

[–] Bonesince1997@lemmy.world 15 points 6 days ago (2 children)

People close to me still talk about people coming to the United States for specialized care they can't get elsewhere, or in a timely manner. This "fact" seems to displace ANY criticism of the system. Every. Single. Time.

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 15 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Pretty weird that none of my English family has come to America to seek medical treatment. I wonder why they would chose an NHS hospital in Manchester instead of flying to Houston for Top Quality™️ care at the Medical Center there. Very interesting how the powers that be always want to compare our healthcare system to countries with GDP half of West Virginia instead of peer states like Germany, Japan, and the UK.

[–] Bonesince1997@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago

I hear ya. I don't know a lot of the figures. Just that that's what you hear people say (generally from people who have good insurance themselves mind you).

[–] ArcticPrincess@lemmy.ml 9 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

In Canada, the only people I've heard say that sort of thing are very wealthy and can pay out of pocket for preferential treatment in America, which their wealth can't buy them in Canada.

That "fact" is one of the problems with US health care system, not an endorsement of it. The US gives better, faster health care to the rich (even foreigners) by neglecting others.

Maybe you want to live in that kind of society. Not me.

[–] madthumbs@lemmy.world -3 points 6 days ago

Time to round up the conspiracy theorists and put them in FEMA camps for our safety.