u/LeninMeowMeow moderates a large amount of big subreddits, r/therightcantmeme, r/gamingcirclejerk, r/animememes, r/greenandpleasent (a known russian propaganda subreddit source: Center for European Policy Analysis (think Lemmygrad)) and much more.

Anyways on r/lemmy, he says that lemmy.world is right-wing and thatcherite. I reply that it is more social democratic.

I instantly get banned from the subreddits he moderates and blocked by him. I have not commented or participated in any of their subreddits before, and this is my first ever encounter with them.

Weird and concerning behaviour. I fear that tankies are taking over most left wing spaces on reddit (not that I really use reddit for politics anymore, that’s why I’m on lemmy, but for the implications to our democracies, as a non-negligible chunk of voters are politically influenced by reddit).

  • fuckingkangaroos@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    not sure what to do about it

    Defederation from Hexbear, lemmygrad, and lemmy.ml would be a decent start, but since they have support from the Kremlin/CCP it’ll probably turn into ongoing whack-a-mole.

      • mecfs@lemmy.worldOP
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        3 months ago

        Things like the internet research agency (russian keyboard army propaganda organisation ) and chinese equivalents are far more widespread than most imagine

        • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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          3 months ago

          Is there evidence they’re on Lemmy? I find this hard to believe given the anonymity of the platform.

          • mecfs@lemmy.worldOP
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            3 months ago

            Impossible to prove or disprove, but grad ML and Hexbear follow the exact leftist ideologies these agencies try to push.

            They also push extreme right ideologies too, anything that destabilises and improves relationship with russia china is good for them.

          • YeetPics
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            3 months ago

            If you were trying to influence foreign affairs (like elections) you’d likely LOVE the anonymity.

            You can say you’re voting for Harris even if you’ve never left the walled city.

            • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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              3 months ago

              I meant the anonymity of the platform itself, not its users. In other words, most people just don’t know the platform exists, likely including people running bot farms and similar. I’d like to see evidence that this activity is taking place in Lemmy before jumping to conclusions.

              Actually Lemmy is probably less anonymous for users than other platforms because you have a bunch of unrelated admins all separately monitoring unusual activity.

      • fuckingkangaroos@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        More direct support. I think a large portion of the accounts on those three instances are bot/shill accounts run by the CCP and Kremlin. I suspect the CCP runs lemmygrad and lemmy.ml. Not sure about Hexbear.

        To be clear, I generally don’t have a problem with Marxists or communists. I think that’s a facade used to cover up the propaganda. No intelligent communist or Marxist would support either the Kremlin or CCP at this point.

        The fediverse is a fantastic place for propagandists. There’s no central censor, absolutely no budget for countering propaganda.

        • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          No intelligent communist or Marxist would support either the Kremlin or CCP at this point.

          Yeah. MLs are neither. It’s not necessarily bots, they’re just that stupid.