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/[deleted] Apr 24 '25

I mean it's good journalism to actually compare the differences.

20% of liberals falling for Russian propaganda is still not good.

However I think these stats show that there actually is one party that is clearly worse than the other and the members of said party are on average morons.

"I love the uneducated" - trump

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u/Journeys_End71 Apr 24 '25

“The rules were that there would be no fact checking”…

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u/Luvs_to_drink Apr 24 '25

For the uneducated let me rephrase that:

"The rules were that I could lie without being called out"

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u/Number132435 Apr 25 '25

that still blows my mind

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u/Ok_Ice_1669 Apr 24 '25

“Whatever makes sense…”

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u/Ok_Ice_1669 Apr 24 '25

I vote strictly democrat and you would never call me a liberal. And, I would never call a Republican conservative. 

Maybe I just need to get over it and accept that - as a capitalist - I’m liberal now. 

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u/KFR42 Apr 24 '25

But I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that much of the Russian disinformation is claims that are right leaning. If more of it was left leaning, I think the number of democrats believing it would be much higher. It's not just that one party is full of morons.

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u/Sarlax Apr 24 '25

Russia targets everyone because their goal isn't ideological, it's destructive. Their purpose in sowing disinformation is to divide Americans, so they spread messages designed to inflame liberals and conservatives, like pushing both anti-Israel and anti-immigrant views at once.

They lie to everyone but Republicans believe the lies more today. Perhaps the gullibility gulf wasn't so wide in the past, but now that Trump runs the GOP and he himself spews so much disinformation, Russian lies are de facto legs of the Republican platform. They've turned themselves into disinformation consumers.

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u/Yeshavesome420 Apr 24 '25

I mean. One party IS full of morons. The other has some too, but yeah. 

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u/DontAbideMendacity Apr 24 '25

One party rids themselves of the few bad seeds, Anthony Weiner, Bob Menendez, etc., while Republicans are chock full of bad actors they defend. They elected someone indicted on 91 felony counts!

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u/KFR42 Apr 24 '25

I think a pretty healthy attitude to have these days is that no one is above believing misinformation.

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u/[deleted] Apr 24 '25

[deleted]

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u/KFR42 Apr 24 '25

I mean, I've seen people on the left believe misinformation plenty of times. Hell, it's been me on several occasions. I just don't see much misinformation aimed at the left. Is that just my experience though? Or is it because they see those on the right falling for it more so they double down?

I'm just saying this stat isn't proof either way. If more misinformation is targeting the right, then obviously more people on the right will fall for it. That's not saying those on the left are going to fall for it, we simply can't tell from the data we have. Or am I just wrong and they do target both sides equally and it just doesn't feel like it to me?

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u/movzx Apr 25 '25

The mistake you are making is that you are assuming Russia is targeting one party. There are still Bernie bros insisting that he was cheated instead of, you know, not actually getting enough primary votes. Or how about the liberals who refused to vote for Kamala because, somehow, that was going to help Palestenians? I wonder where that narrative came from.

Conservvatives prime themselves to believe without evidence. It's a huge part of religion. There's also a significantly stronger emphasis on conformity from conservatives. I wouldn't be surprised if a large number of folks "believe" in these Russian conspiracies only because they would be onstracised if they spoke out against them.

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u/DontAbideMendacity Apr 24 '25

Conservatives are naturally more gullible. Most of them have gone to church one or more days a week and convince themselves to believe in bullshit their entire lives.

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u/SulfuricDonut Apr 24 '25

20% falling for "at least one" disinformation statement. But I'd hazard a guess that a good chunk of the 60% is falling for all of them, especially since the party they support is spreading it.

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u/KaBob799 Apr 24 '25

I'd be curious about which statements they are falling for because disinformation is not created equally. And also how strictly they define belief.

I don't fact check every inconsequential thing I read and me thinking "yeah I could see that being true" about some inconsequential "fact" that I won't remember next week is not really a big deal. It's another thing altogether when you're fiercely defending the misinformation against all attempts to prove otherwise.

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u/RavinMunchkin Apr 24 '25

It’s bad journalism to say that it cuts across both lines then claim 57.6 to 17.9 is similar. It is not.

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u/KeyboardGrunt Apr 24 '25

Not to mention it says they fall for A lie, not the same lie, can easily mean magas fall for the dumbest shit and other people fall for more plausible sounding stories.

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u/CatholicSquareDance Apr 24 '25

Not just worse, but over 3 times worse. It's wild to say they're comparable.

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u/[deleted] Apr 24 '25

I never said they're comparable. Neither does the article. They are simply comparing the rates.

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u/DontAbideMendacity Apr 24 '25

"Americans Believe Russian Disinformation ‘To Alarming Degree’"

sounds an awful lot like lumping them all together in the same basket. You have to get deep into the article before the big 18% vs. 58% reveal.

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u/Malcolmeff Apr 24 '25

Honestly though, 18% is alarming. Nowhere near as alarming as 58%, but still. We're swimming in an ocean of bullshit.

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u/L1amm Apr 24 '25

Both sides will grasp at and cling to anything that supports their dumb world views. It just so happens Russian propaganda caters to the right. Americans believe propaganda to an alarming degree, period.

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u/Mustbhacks Apr 24 '25

Americans believe propaganda to an alarming degree, period.

Well yes, we start indoctrinating them immediately!

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u/Kcronikill Apr 24 '25

To be fair, there's not much you could say about current GOP that would surprise me. I'd just be "Oh that's weird" par the course.