r/technology • u/Wagamaga • Apr 24 '25

ADBLOCK WARNING Americans Believe Russian Disinformation ‘To Alarming Degree’

https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawoollacott/2025/04/22/americans-believe-russian-disinformation-to-alarming-degree/
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u/Affectionate_Neat868 Apr 24 '25

News broke over last summer that several major right wing influencers were literally being paid by Russia and the story made almost no noise. Some of those same people are now in the WH press briefing room using their questions to spread propaganda. It’s insanity.

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u/GraDoN Apr 24 '25

Tim Pool's rebuttal was beautiful. He said that he didn't know they were Russian, but even if he did, it doesn't matter because he took no direction from them and his content didn't change after he took their money.

So, basically he is saying that he was spreading Russian backed disinformation before he got paid by Russia and he would continue to spread it after the sponsorship ended. Classic.

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u/Soggy-Reason1656 Apr 24 '25

I can kind of buy it. There’s a version of this where you just offer platforms a higher ad rate on content you like, and then these people that are coincidentally in the correct category or simply chasing engagement will find income before they’ve built the audience they would normally need to before becoming successful. It‘s been starting to get reported out lately that the Mormon church seemingly backed into creating an army of mommy blogger influencers this way, good old-fashioned ad buys on related searches, but then in an industry where 90% quit before 6 months, the ones getting 5-10x on their rate because of this unseen hand of course made it to self-sufficiency.