Morten Bay of University of Southern California Center for the Digital Future has written a non-satire academic paper claiming that Russian internet trolls increased the Star Wars fan divide over the Last Jedi. This was not written for the Onion.
It is titled Weaponizing The Haters: The Last Jedi and the strategic politicization of pop culture through social media manipulation.
The claim is increasing media coverage of the fandom conflict, thereby adding to and further propagating a narrative of widespread discord and dysfunction in American society. Persuading voters of this narrative remains a strategic goal for the U.S. alt-right movement, as well as the Russian Federation.
Morten claims that overall, 50.9% of those tweeting negatively [about the movie] was likely politically motivated or not even human.
Search your feelings, do you think your opinion of Star Wars the Last Jedi were because of twitter and social media?
When reviewed Star Wars the Last Jedi, I knew that there were big plot holes, but let it slide in the initial review. Half of each of the prequels and the Ewoks from Return of the Jedi were crap too. The Last Jedi went over the line because they turned Luke Skywalker into a coward and Leia into Force Mary Poppins.
Director of Star Wars Rian Johnson endorses the USC research.
A bit of Morten’s research came out awhile ago and made some headlines – here’s his full paper. Looking forward to reading it, but what the top-line describes is consistent with my experience online. https://t.co/MTRgmPxGgZ
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) October 1, 2018
All negative movie or TV reviews are from Russian Bots
Clearly all negative sentiment for anything is the result of Russia amplifying the haters.
You thought Justice League was a bad movie? Russian bots.
Star Wars a Solo movie was boring? Russian bots
Batman v Superman a bad movie? Russian bots.
The Mummy a bad movie? Russian bots.
Have a problem with a female Dr. Who? Russian Bots
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
Yeah well the only problem is that majority of fans ARE disspointed with last jedi.” I don’t agree. I think those who are disappointed are loud and want their opinion to be known, as is commonly the case (getting rid of excess emotional energy). I know people who liked it, and people who hated it, and the only trend I see is that the majority of people who didn’t like it are making their opinion known to the universe. “New star wars is total failure, and this laughable “report” is just next retarded attempt to spin counter-narrative sot hat Disney will not go bankrupt.” You must not have read my reply closely. This paper’s main focus, as I had highlighted, is that there exists “evidence that political influence through manipulation of social media discussions is no longer exclusive to political debate but can now also be found in pop culture.” Other comments, such as the “data does not support claims that a majority of fans are so dissatisfied with The Last Jedi”, are not supporting any claim. It even says that, right there…with words. “The reasno why NBF is making fun of this “report” is because its ludicrous if you are fan of SW and you know what people are talking about. Not just on internet. It was crappy movie, period.” I appreciate your opinion, but just because one is a fan does not exempt oneself from reading. The reason why I commented was not because posters were poking fun at the premise of the presented conclusion of the paper (by all means, poke away). Rather, it was that the paper’s conclusion was never understood or seemingly given a chance; whether it be just reading the title, or taking for granted that others had read the paper and basing comments of of their comments, or excess emotional energy needing to find an escape, never before on this site had I seen so many posters miss the point absolutely. Poking fun? Sure. Reading “A” and understanding “B”, when “A” could be understood with 9 minutes of reading? Disappointing.
Yeah well the only problem is that majority of fans ARE disspointed with last jedi.””I don’t agree. I think those who are disappointed are loud and want their opinion to be known”” as is commonly the case (getting rid of excess emotional energy). I know people who liked it and people who hated it”” and the only trend I see is that the majority of people who didn’t like it are making their opinion known to the universe. “”””New star wars is total failure”””” and this laughable “”””report”””” is just next retarded attempt to spin counter-narrative sot hat Disney will not go bankrupt.”””” You must not have read my reply closely. This paper’s main focus”” as I had highlighted”” is that there exists “”””evidence that political influence through manipulation of social media discussions is no longer exclusive to political debate but can now also be found in pop culture.”””” Other comments”””” such as the “”””data does not support claims that a majority of fans are so dissatisfied with The Last Jedi”””””” are not supporting any claim. It even says that”” right there…with words.””””The reasno why NBF is making fun of this “”””report”””” is because its ludicrous if you are fan of SW and you know what people are talking about. Not just on internet. It was crappy movie”””” period.””””I appreciate your opinion”” but just because one is a fan does not exempt oneself from reading. The reason why I commented was not because posters were poking fun at the premise of the presented conclusion of the paper (by all means poke away). Rather it was that the paper’s conclusion was never understood or seemingly given a chance; whether it be just reading the title or taking for granted that others had read the paper and basing comments of of their comments or excess emotional energy needing to find an escape”” never before on this site had I seen so many posters miss the point absolutely. Poking fun? Sure. Reading “”””A”””” and understanding “”””B”””””””” when “”””A”””” could be understood with 9 min”
“Yeah well the only problem is that majority of fans ARE disspointed with last jedi.”
I don’t agree. I think those who are disappointed are loud and want their opinion to be known, as is commonly the case (getting rid of excess emotional energy). I know people who liked it, and people who hated it, and the only trend I see is that the majority of people who didn’t like it are making their opinion known to the universe.
“New star wars is total failure, and this laughable “report” is just next retarded attempt to spin counter-narrative sot hat Disney will not go bankrupt.”
You must not have read my reply closely. This paper’s main focus, as I had highlighted, is that there exists “evidence that political influence through manipulation of social media discussions is no longer exclusive to political debate but can now also be found in pop culture.” Other comments, such as the “data does not support claims that a majority of fans are so dissatisfied with The Last Jedi”, are not supporting any claim. It even says that, right there…with words.
“The reasno why NBF is making fun of this “report” is because its ludicrous if you are fan of SW and you know what people are talking about. Not just on internet. It was crappy movie, period.”
I appreciate your opinion, but just because one is a fan does not exempt oneself from reading. The reason why I commented was not because posters were poking fun at the premise of the presented conclusion of the paper (by all means, poke away). Rather, it was that the paper’s conclusion was never understood or seemingly given a chance; whether it be just reading the title, or taking for granted that others had read the paper and basing comments of of their comments, or excess emotional energy needing to find an escape, never before on this site had I seen so many posters miss the point absolutely. Poking fun? Sure. Reading “A” and understanding “B”, when “A” could be understood with 9 minutes of reading? Disappointing.
Clearly Mark Hamill is on Putin’s payroll. By God the movie sucked. Seems to be a cottage industry in Hollywood (Star Wars, DCEU) based on finding what is good about a franchise and taking a dump on it and the audience’s childhoods. So perplexing why these films don’t make money.
Clearly Mark Hamill is on Putin’s payroll.By God the movie sucked. Seems to be a cottage industry in Hollywood (Star Wars DCEU) based on finding what is good about a franchise and taking a dump on it and the audience’s childhoods.So perplexing why these films don’t make money.
Yea I think he meant the producer (Kathleen Kennedy).
Yea I think he meant the producer (Kathleen Kennedy).
Clearly Mark Hamill is on Putin’s payroll.
By God the movie sucked. Seems to be a cottage industry in Hollywood (Star Wars, DCEU) based on finding what is good about a franchise and taking a dump on it and the audience’s childhoods.
So perplexing why these films don’t make money.
Yea I think he meant the producer (Kathleen Kennedy).
The thing is, selection filters rule everything around you. I’ve been a starwars fan all my life – as have most of my friends – and we all loved it. But we aren’t in your circle. And once a particular network forms an opinion it often becomes easier to express unfashionable opinions. Frankly, the people I’ve seen critquing the movie seem to completely overlook consistent themes that come out (e.g. the abdigcation of self, the importance of the team and the ideology over the superficial cult of the hero/individual – and these are themes that are present in the origional trilogy to some extent too). I appreciate that might not be what some people are looking for, but hey ho: horses for courses. The fact that some people are so wedded to the idea that there can only be one true opinion that is somehow more objective/universal is precisely why it makes a good subject for a strategy aimed at creating a culture of inteollerance. As a strategy, it’s not that the Russians are trying to get us all to hate star wars. It’s that they are trying to get everyone accustomed to reflexive disagreement and to de-normalise compromise and finding a middle ground. Preferably issues where splits map well to demographic groups that are already well defined. (Essentially the way ad targeting works and political parties work: there is often no particular reason that people who with x characteristic also have y characteristic, but if they do, and x is trackable and y is invisible, x becomes a useful proxy). This gumms up the ability to form conesnsus within a polity, which is the geopolitical objective. Brian’s reaction here rather exemplifies exactly why it is an effective strategy. His reaction is reflexively defensive and stops him truly considering the actual proposition of the paper “oh, so everythings Russian mind games”. The paper isn’t saying that Russia created the idea that LJ is a bad movie. It’s saying it amplified it as part of a psyops campaign. And the fact that you find
The thing is selection filters rule everything around you. I’ve been a starwars fan all my life – as have most of my friends – and we all loved it. But we aren’t in your circle. And once a particular network forms an opinion it often becomes easier to express unfashionable opinions. Frankly the people I’ve seen critquing the movie seem to completely overlook consistent themes that come out (e.g. the abdigcation of self the importance of the team and the ideology over the superficial cult of the hero/individual – and these are themes that are present in the origional trilogy to some extent too). I appreciate that might not be what some people are looking for but hey ho: horses for courses. The fact that some people are so wedded to the idea that there can only be one true opinion that is somehow more objective/universal is precisely why it makes a good subject for a strategy aimed at creating a culture of inteollerance.As a strategy it’s not that the Russians are trying to get us all to hate star wars. It’s that they are trying to get everyone accustomed to reflexive disagreement and to de-normalise compromise and finding a middle ground. Preferably issues where splits map well to demographic groups that are already well defined. (Essentially the way ad targeting works and political parties work: there is often no particular reason that people who with x characteristic also have y characteristic but if they do and x is trackable and y is invisible x becomes a useful proxy). This gumms up the ability to form conesnsus within a polity which is the geopolitical objective.Brian’s reaction here rather exemplifies exactly why it is an effective strategy. His reaction is reflexively defensive and stops him truly considering the actual proposition of the paper oh”” so everythings Russian mind games””. The paper isn’t saying that Russia created the idea that LJ is a bad movie. It’s saying it amplified it as part of a psyops campaign. And the fact th”
Yeah well the only problem is that majority of fans ARE disspointed with last jedi. Just look at content on this on YT or any place for that matter. The only content that is pro-LJ is coming from corporate media owned or influenced by Disney. I honestly know no person that saw LJ and liked it. I also never saw fan created content that would be of opposite view, with 1 or 2 exceptions being mentioned as apocryphical almost, but even in those cases they were aknowledging that movie sucked. Major trend-setters on internet and independent reviewers have complatelly DESTROYED this movie on all possible levels of analysis. Movie performed poorly in box office and as result of fan backlash next production-Solo, Star Wars Story, is regarded as financial failure. Currently new Star Wars production by Disney, animated series “Resistance” has been universally MASSACRATED soon after first trailer was presented. This is not just who likes movies and stuff, people hate entire policy of Disney towards this franchise and they also started to change their opinion about Force Awakens, but even when this movie came out fans were split. Now they are enraged. Look at sells of SW merchandise, like toys. Its tanking. Nobody is buying this stuff. New star wars is total failure, and this laughable “report” is just next retarded attempt to spin counter-narrative sot hat Disney will not go bankrupt. The only decision that fans recently liked was come back of Clone Wars animated series for final season. thats it! The reasno why NBF is making fun of this “report” is because its ludicrous if you are fan of SW and you know what people are talking about. Not just on internet. It was crappy movie, period.
Yeah well the only problem is that majority of fans ARE disspointed with last jedi. Just look at content on this on YT or any place for that matter. The only content that is pro-LJ is coming from corporate media owned or influenced by Disney. I honestly know no person that saw LJ and liked it. I also never saw fan created content that would be of opposite view with 1 or 2 exceptions being mentioned as apocryphical almost but even in those cases they were aknowledging that movie sucked. Major trend-setters on internet and independent reviewers have complatelly DESTROYED this movie on all possible levels of analysis. Movie performed poorly in box office and as result of fan backlash next production-Solo Star Wars Story is regarded as financial failure. Currently new Star Wars production by Disney animated series Resistance”” has been universally MASSACRATED soon after first trailer was presented. This is not just who likes movies and stuff”” people hate entire policy of Disney towards this franchise and they also started to change their opinion about Force Awakens but even when this movie came out fans were split. Now they are enraged. Look at sells of SW merchandise like toys. Its tanking. Nobody is buying this stuff. New star wars is total failure”” and this laughable “”””report”””” is just next retarded attempt to spin counter-narrative sot hat Disney will not go bankrupt. The only decision that fans recently liked was come back of Clone Wars animated series for final season. thats it! The reasno why NBF is making fun of this “”””report”””” is because its ludicrous if you are fan of SW and you know what people are talking about. Not just on internet. It was crappy movie”””” period.”””
This is laughable. Soon constipation will be blamed on Russian agents.
This is laughable. Soon constipation will be blamed on Russian agents.
The thing is, selection filters rule everything around you. I’ve been a starwars fan all my life – as have most of my friends – and we all loved it. But we aren’t in your circle. And once a particular network forms an opinion it often becomes easier to express unfashionable opinions.
Frankly, the people I’ve seen critquing the movie seem to completely overlook consistent themes that come out (e.g. the abdigcation of self, the importance of the team and the ideology over the superficial cult of the hero/individual – and these are themes that are present in the origional trilogy to some extent too). I appreciate that might not be what some people are looking for, but hey ho: horses for courses.
The fact that some people are so wedded to the idea that there can only be one true opinion that is somehow more objective/universal is precisely why it makes a good subject for a strategy aimed at creating a culture of inteollerance.
As a strategy, it’s not that the Russians are trying to get us all to hate star wars. It’s that they are trying to get everyone accustomed to reflexive disagreement and to de-normalise compromise and finding a middle ground. Preferably issues where splits map well to demographic groups that are already well defined. (Essentially the way ad targeting works and political parties work: there is often no particular reason that people who with x characteristic also have y characteristic, but if they do, and x is trackable and y is invisible, x becomes a useful proxy). This gumms up the ability to form conesnsus within a polity, which is the geopolitical objective.
Brian’s reaction here rather exemplifies exactly why it is an effective strategy. His reaction is reflexively defensive and stops him truly considering the actual proposition of the paper “oh, so everythings Russian mind games”. The paper isn’t saying that Russia created the idea that LJ is a bad movie. It’s saying it amplified it as part of a psyops campaign. And the fact that you find lots of people who share your oppinion and few who do not is entirely consistent with that (that is, if the proposition were true, that is precisely what you would expect to see, though it could also be the case if the propositon were false – but it certainly doesn’t rule the proposition out).
I disliked it because it sucked. With more plot holes a nonsense than the first one, an even lamer disposal of a classic character and a completely out of character Yoda, who is now somehow capable of magic as a ghost…
I disliked it because it sucked. With more plot holes a nonsense than the first one an even lamer disposal of a classic character and a completely out of character Yoda who is now somehow capable of magic as a ghost…
Yeah well the only problem is that majority of fans ARE disspointed with last jedi. Just look at content on this on YT or any place for that matter. The only content that is pro-LJ is coming from corporate media owned or influenced by Disney. I honestly know no person that saw LJ and liked it. I also never saw fan created content that would be of opposite view, with 1 or 2 exceptions being mentioned as apocryphical almost, but even in those cases they were aknowledging that movie sucked. Major trend-setters on internet and independent reviewers have complatelly DESTROYED this movie on all possible levels of analysis. Movie performed poorly in box office and as result of fan backlash next production-Solo, Star Wars Story, is regarded as financial failure. Currently new Star Wars production by Disney, animated series “Resistance” has been universally MASSACRATED soon after first trailer was presented. This is not just who likes movies and stuff, people hate entire policy of Disney towards this franchise and they also started to change their opinion about Force Awakens, but even when this movie came out fans were split. Now they are enraged. Look at sells of SW merchandise, like toys. Its tanking. Nobody is buying this stuff. New star wars is total failure, and this laughable “report” is just next retarded attempt to spin counter-narrative sot hat Disney will not go bankrupt. The only decision that fans recently liked was come back of Clone Wars animated series for final season. thats it!
The reasno why NBF is making fun of this “report” is because its ludicrous if you are fan of SW and you know what people are talking about. Not just on internet. It was crappy movie, period.
This is laughable. Soon constipation will be blamed on Russian agents.
Fair enough. From my perspective, I think research into the widening use of bots being used in more and more forums for political gain is worth the investment. Now we know it’s happening, and to what degree(ish).
Fair enough. From my perspective I think research into the widening use of bots being used in more and more forums for political gain is worth the investment. Now we know it’s happening and to what degree(ish).
All that info was from the paper, not fan boards.
All that info was from the paper not fan boards.
And he compared it to the Onion. And made fun of it.
And he compared it to the Onion. And made fun of it.
I disliked it because it sucked. With more plot holes a nonsense than the first one, an even lamer disposal of a classic character and a completely out of character Yoda, who is now somehow capable of magic as a ghost…
Not with public money. A lot of these “research” receives public funding. Private sources on the other hand, can spend their budget in whatever form they wish. But my feeling is they don’t usually throw it down the drain like this.
Not with public money. A lot of these research”” receives public funding.Private sources on the other hand”””” can spend their budget in whatever form they wish. But my feeling is they don’t usually throw it down the drain like this.”””
Strikes me as good practice for widening any partisan divide….
Strikes me as good practice for widening any partisan divide….
He posted it, not the Bot.
He posted it not the Bot.
I feel like a lot of people didn’t actually read the paper. Everyone seems to think that the study points to “all the haters were Russian bots”, when in actuality, and again if you read the paper, you’d clearly see that was not the aim of the investigation or the findings. The “anchor” from the Abstract: “The results of the social media study presented in this paper presents evidence that political influence through manipulation of social media discussions is no longer exclusive to political debate but can now also be found in pop culture….the study finds evidence of deliberate, organized political influence measures disguised as fan arguments.” Findings: 967 accounts analyzed via manual sentiment coding method, with 206 of them negative and 33 of those negative accounts being classified as actual bots. Conclusion: “…the data does not support claims that a majority of fans are so dissatisfied with The Last Jedi….political and ethical positions presented in the new films are consistent with older films….the presence of organized influence measures, i.e. bots, sock puppet and troll accounts, is further indications of attempts to manipulate Star Wars fans as part of a political persuasion tactic…however, the assertions made in this article must be considered within the limited scope of the data set, which may or may not limit generalizability of the findings…yet, even considering the limitations of the data set, there are enough indications that pop culture debates on social media are being politicized, sometimes for strategic purposes that have nothing to do with the subject under debate.” Reading and finding all this info took me 9 minutes. With all of the comments in this thread veering QUITE off course from the actual paper, I am incredulous to say the least and disappointed in the quality of analyses which has set itself apart from other threads.
I feel like a lot of people didn’t actually read the paper. Everyone seems to think that the study points to all the haters were Russian bots””” when in actuality and again if you read the paper”” you’d clearly see that was not the aim of the investigation or the findings. The “”””anchor”””” from the Abstract: “”””The results of the social media study presented in this paper presents evidence that political influence through manipulation of social media discussions is no longer exclusive to political debate but can now also be found in pop culture….the study finds evidence of deliberate”””” organized political influence measures disguised as fan arguments.”””” Findings: 967 accounts analyzed via manual sentiment coding method”””” with 206 of them negative and 33 of those negative accounts being classified as actual bots.Conclusion: “”””…the data does not support claims that a majority of fans are so dissatisfied with The Last Jedi….political and ethical positions presented in the new films are consistent with older films….the presence of organized influence measures”” i.e. bots sock puppet and troll accounts is further indications of attempts to manipulate Star Wars fans as part of a political persuasion tactic…however the assertions made in this article must be considered within the limited scope of the data set which may or may not limit generalizability of the findings…yet even considering the limitations of the data set there are enough indications that pop culture debates on social media are being politicized”” sometimes for strategic purposes that have nothing to do with the subject under debate.””””Reading and finding all this info took me 9 minutes. With all of the comments in this thread veering QUITE off course from the actual paper”””” I am incredulous to say the least and disappointed in the quality of analyses which has set itself apart from other threads.”””
Did Russian agents also sabotage the recent Fantastic Four movie? What about the Green Lantern movie? Gosh, these Russians sure do get around.
Did Russian agents also sabotage the recent Fantastic Four movie? What about the Green Lantern movie? Gosh these Russians sure do get around.
Haha – someone actually got paid to go through postings on Star Wars fan boards? I want that job. Give me a break.This is a pathetic joke.
Haha – someone actually got paid to go through postings on Star Wars fan boards? I want that job. Give me a break.This is a pathetic joke.
So you think Trump supporters led the charge to trash Star Wars: The Last Jedi? Mark Hamill himself said he didn’t like the way they did things – I guess the original protagonist of Star Wars is an agent of Russia/Trump/Freemasons/whatever. Sorry, but Last Jedi sucked – deflecting blame onto Trump supporters, Russia, whatever is going to suddenly make it a cooler movie.
So you think Trump supporters led the charge to trash Star Wars: The Last Jedi? Mark Hamill himself said he didn’t like the way they did things – I guess the original protagonist of Star Wars is an agent of Russia/Trump/Freemasons/whatever. Sorry but Last Jedi sucked – deflecting blame onto Trump supporters Russia whatever is going to suddenly make it a cooler movie.
What is the mistake in your mind?
What is the mistake in your mind?
Did you also read how they factored in other details, such as content of posting history? Also, not 11 bots: “11 of the 16 accounts suspected of being run by Russian trolls almost exclusively tweeted about The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson or right-wing U.S. politics”. Really, it was 33 of the 206 negative accounts which were bots. And 13% from? I’m seeing that 11.4% (21.9% – 10.5%) were actual bots. Did you really read the study?
Did you also read how they factored in other details such as content of posting history? Also not 11 bots: 11 of the 16 accounts suspected of being run by Russian trolls almost exclusively tweeted about The Last Jedi”” Rian Johnson or right-wing U.S. politics””. Really”””” it was 33 of the 206 negative accounts which were bots. And 13{22800fc54956079738b58e74e4dcd846757aa319aad70fcf90c97a58f3119a12} from? I’m seeing that 11.4{22800fc54956079738b58e74e4dcd846757aa319aad70fcf90c97a58f3119a12} (21.9{22800fc54956079738b58e74e4dcd846757aa319aad70fcf90c97a58f3119a12} – 10.5{22800fc54956079738b58e74e4dcd846757aa319aad70fcf90c97a58f3119a12}) were actual bots. Did you really read the study?”””
There are those “fantagonists” as the author described, which were clearly fans who just did not care for the movie. Then, there are sockpuppets (imposters posting online) and bots. It’s not just “everyone who disagrees with it is a bot. Did you read the article?
There are those fantagonists”” as the author described”” which were clearly fans who just did not care for the movie. Then”” there are sockpuppets (imposters posting online) and bots. It’s not just “”””everyone who disagrees with it is a bot. Did you read the article?”””
You know the director was Rian Johnson, right?
You know the director was Rian Johnson right?
Fair enough. From my perspective, I think research into the widening use of bots being used in more and more forums for political gain is worth the investment. Now we know it’s happening, and to what degree(ish).
All that info was from the paper, not fan boards.
The director is a super feminist. She had an agenda as a social warrior so all the men were fools or villains and the women were heroes. This movie matched her view of the world and on top of that she sucks as a director.
The director is a super feminist. She had an agenda as a social warrior so all the men were fools or villains and the women were heroes. This movie matched her view of the world and on top of that she sucks as a director.
And he compared it to the Onion. And made fun of it.
I guess, I am one of those Russian bots then 😉 Never knew! Or maybe, just maybe, many of us “old” Star Wars fans do not like the direction the new movies have taken. Ungracefully, killing off our favorite characters. Turning a fairy tale (with a happy ever after) into something Californians can relate to (but that few people really like). As far as I am concerned, the new movies do not exist. Your’s Skipjack (apparently a Russian bot).
I guess I am one of those Russian bots then ;)Never knew!Or maybe just maybe many of us old”” Star Wars fans do not like the direction the new movies have taken. Ungracefully”” killing off our favorite characters. Turning a fairy tale (with a happy ever after) into something Californians can relate to (but that few people really like). As far as I am concerned”” the new movies do not exist. Your’s Skipjack (apparently a Russian bot).”””
I would encourage more researches like this, they will secure Trump’s second term.
I would encourage more researches like this they will secure Trump’s second term.
Not with public money. A lot of these “research” receives public funding.
Private sources on the other hand, can spend their budget in whatever form they wish. But my feeling is they don’t usually throw it down the drain like this.
Nope! Nice try Disney. The real and only reason everyone dislikes your movie is because its soooo bad. Plain and simple. I don’t personally know anyone who did like it. Russia didn’t cause it. You did. Seriously. I was hopeful that you would avoid the mistakes made by Lucas and Peter Jackson with the prequel trilogies (star wars and the Hobbit respectively) but instead you just got greedy and decided you could get away with anything. The historically low approval ratings (for a star wars film) of Last Jedi are fans telling you you were wrong. Please stop trying to blame your failure on an outside source that no one including yourself actually believes is responsible. It just makes you look bad. Really bad. Take responsibility for it and fix it. That’s all we’re interested in. And I’m sorry but saying Russian social media ads decided a presidential election is so laughable I literally thought people were joking when they first said it. Did Russia put up ads? Perhaps. Lets assume they did. Tons of them. So what? Since when has any political ad ever changed your mind? They never will. Let’s be a bit more rational and think out our own conclusions instead of regurgitating what the media propagates. ANY media.
Nope! Nice try Disney. The real and only reason everyone dislikes your movie is because its soooo bad. Plain and simple. I don’t personally know anyone who did like it. Russia didn’t cause it. You did. Seriously. I was hopeful that you would avoid the mistakes made by Lucas and Peter Jackson with the prequel trilogies (star wars and the Hobbit respectively) but instead you just got greedy and decided you could get away with anything. The historically low approval ratings (for a star wars film) of Last Jedi are fans telling you you were wrong. Please stop trying to blame your failure on an outside source that no one including yourself actually believes is responsible. It just makes you look bad. Really bad. Take responsibility for it and fix it. That’s all we’re interested in. And I’m sorry but saying Russian social media ads decided a presidential election is so laughable I literally thought people were joking when they first said it. Did Russia put up ads? Perhaps. Lets assume they did. Tons of them. So what? Since when has any political ad ever changed your mind? They never will. Let’s be a bit more rational and think out our own conclusions instead of regurgitating what the media propagates. ANY media.
Hello comrades, this Russian bot story is how you say, making mountain out of fake molehill. The original story never claimed that it was actually “Russian bots”. Russian bot is just another way of saying Trump supporter.
Hello comrades this Russian bot story is how you say making mountain out of fake molehill. The original story never claimed that it was actually Russian bots””. Russian bot is just another way of saying Trump supporter.”””
Strikes me as good practice for widening any partisan divide….
He posted it, not the Bot.
I remember, during the elections, Clinton was so rabid against Russia and using them as boogeymen, it felt like she wanted to go to war or something, to the point that I was relieved when Trump got elected : at least he was chill about russia (and the left promptly portrayed him as a russian puppet). Think what you will but I don’t want a 3rd world war.
I remember during the elections Clinton was so rabid against Russia and using them as boogeymen it felt like she wanted to go to war or something to the point that I was relieved when Trump got elected : at least he was chill about russia (and the left promptly portrayed him as a russian puppet).Think what you will but I don’t want a 3rd world war.
I feel like a lot of people didn’t actually read the paper. Everyone seems to think that the study points to “all the haters were Russian bots”, when in actuality, and again if you read the paper, you’d clearly see that was not the aim of the investigation or the findings.
The “anchor” from the Abstract: “The results of the social media study presented in this paper presents evidence that political influence through manipulation of social media discussions is no longer exclusive to political debate but can now also be found in pop culture….the study finds evidence of deliberate, organized political influence measures disguised as fan arguments.”
Findings: 967 accounts analyzed via manual sentiment coding method, with 206 of them negative and 33 of those negative accounts being classified as actual bots.
Conclusion: “…the data does not support claims that a majority of fans are so dissatisfied with The Last Jedi….political and ethical positions presented in the new films are consistent with older films….the presence of organized influence measures, i.e. bots, sock puppet and troll accounts, is further indications of attempts to manipulate Star Wars fans as part of a political persuasion tactic…however, the assertions made in this article must be considered within the limited scope of the data set, which may or may not limit generalizability of the findings…yet, even considering the limitations of the data set, there are enough indications that pop culture debates on social media are being politicized, sometimes for strategic purposes that have nothing to do with the subject under debate.”
Reading and finding all this info took me 9 minutes. With all of the comments in this thread veering QUITE off course from the actual paper, I am incredulous to say the least and disappointed in the quality of analyses which has set itself apart from other threads.
Did Russian agents also sabotage the recent Fantastic Four movie? What about the Green Lantern movie? Gosh, these Russians sure do get around.
Haha – someone actually got paid to go through postings on Star Wars fan boards? I want that job. Give me a break.This is a pathetic joke.
So you think Trump supporters led the charge to trash Star Wars: The Last Jedi? Mark Hamill himself said he didn’t like the way they did things – I guess the original protagonist of Star Wars is an agent of Russia/Trump/Freemasons/whatever. Sorry, but Last Jedi sucked – deflecting blame onto Trump supporters, Russia, whatever is going to suddenly make it a cooler movie.
What is the mistake in your mind?
Did you also read how they factored in other details, such as content of posting history? Also, not 11 bots: “11 of the 16 accounts suspected of being run by Russian trolls almost exclusively tweeted about The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson or right-wing U.S. politics”. Really, it was 33 of the 206 negative accounts which were bots.
And 13% from? I’m seeing that 11.4% (21.9% – 10.5%) were actual bots. Did you really read the study?
There are those “fantagonists” as the author described, which were clearly fans who just did not care for the movie. Then, there are sockpuppets (imposters posting online) and bots. It’s not just “everyone who disagrees with it is a bot. Did you read the article?
You know the director was Rian Johnson, right?
The director is a super feminist. She had an agenda as a social warrior so all the men were fools or villains and the women were heroes. This movie matched her view of the world and on top of that she sucks as a director.
sad but true state of what academia has turned into.. id also hate to be a writer for the onion because they cant possibly come up with crazier stuff than real life.. posting something normal is now rebellious
sad but true state of what academia has turned into.. id also hate to be a writer for the onion because they cant possibly come up with crazier stuff than real life.. posting something normal is now rebellious
Amen brother.. i finally had enough of the fricking insanity.. i was wrong to say its both sides and no ones perfect .. the shit has gotten so nuts on the left im ashamed to even admit i was a part of it
Amen brother.. i finally had enough of the fricking insanity.. i was wrong to say its both sides and no ones perfect .. the shit has gotten so nuts on the left im ashamed to even admit i was a part of it
Considering at this point the GRU is all YOLO and going on a spree of flagrantly exposed hornets nest kicking ops in all sorts of weird places, this sounds shades of possible. Which was the point of the GRU ops that have been successfully tied to them (and the whole Active Measures information warfare philosophy), information overload and cognitive disruption separating fake news from real due to quantity and the cognitive costs in refuting popular BS, thus effectively shutting down critical thought in a targeted populace which local actors will coincidentally pounce on for private benefit since they are easy pickings. Propaganda has morphed in the information age into hypervelocity troll meme farms, which are particularly effective in regimes with poor information control systems. Who could have predicted semiotic warfare would be a thing well before AI? Then on top of that is the internecine clash between GRU and FSB spilling out into the open, using foreign activities as the backdrop. We live in interesting times…
Considering at this point the GRU is all YOLO and going on a spree of flagrantly exposed hornets nest kicking ops in all sorts of weird places this sounds shades of possible. Which was the point of the GRU ops that have been successfully tied to them (and the whole Active Measures information warfare philosophy) information overload and cognitive disruption separating fake news from real due to quantity and the cognitive costs in refuting popular BS thus effectively shutting down critical thought in a targeted populace which local actors will coincidentally pounce on for private benefit since they are easy pickings. Propaganda has morphed in the information age into hypervelocity troll meme farms which are particularly effective in regimes with poor information control systems. Who could have predicted semiotic warfare would be a thing well before AI?Then on top of that is the internecine clash between GRU and FSB spilling out into the open using foreign activities as the backdrop.We live in interesting times…
We can only hope so.
We can only hope so.
This is good. No, seriously. As a clever man once observed “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” This sort of insanity is a mistake. Pretending, let alone actually believing, that everything that doesn’t go your way (elections, film reviews, drug trials, roulette spins…) must be the result of secret Russian robots is not going to help promote the whacky left. It makes them look crazy. It demonstrates a childish fantasy to their politics. It’s like when the American right had groups believing in mass devil worshipping human sacrifice cults. It just makes the average person lump them in as “well I certainly don’t want those lunatics to win the election”. Even in debates it works against them. If person A accuses person B of being a white, hetrosexual, cis, christian who is privileged and takes advantage of social structures… well many people might think there is something to that. If you add in that they are ruled by mind control robots from Russia…. well clearly the accusation is the product of a diseased mind. We’ll ignore what this person is on about and go back to watching football.
This is good.No seriously.As a clever man once observed Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.””This sort of insanity is a mistake. Pretending”” let alone actually believing that everything that doesn’t go your way (elections film reviews drug trials”” roulette spins…) must be the result of secret Russian robots is not going to help promote the whacky left. It makes them look crazy. It demonstrates a childish fantasy to their politics. It’s like when the American right had groups believing in mass devil worshipping human sacrifice cults. It just makes the average person lump them in as “”””well I certainly don’t want those lunatics to win the election””””.Even in debates it works against them. If person A accuses person B of being a white”” hetrosexual cis”” christian who is privileged and takes advantage of social structures… well many people might think there is something to that. If you add in that they are ruled by mind control robots from Russia…. well clearly the accusation is the product of a diseased mind. We’ll ignore what this person is on about and go back to watching football.”””
I’ve known for a long time that Southern California is packed with nutty democrats. If it had not been the Russians, it would have been global warming, or assault weapons.
I’ve known for a long time that Southern California is packed with nutty democrats. If it had not been the Russians it would have been global warming or assault weapons.
Did your friends with middling opinions bother writing up 5000 word screeds in which they concluded “Well… it was OK I guess.”? Did those essays lead other people to get angry or excited enough to spread the essays across the internet? No. If people have middling opinions then they tend to keep it to themselves. Even if they do bother to spread their opinions then nobody cares, because it’s middling. Only extreme viewpoints are exciting enough to spread and be seen. This is why everything SEEMS radically polarised. You won’t get lots of clicks if you aren’t crazy.
Did your friends with middling opinions bother writing up 5000 word screeds in which they concluded Well… it was OK I guess.””?Did those essays lead other people to get angry or excited enough to spread the essays across the internet?No. If people have middling opinions then they tend to keep it to themselves. Even if they do bother to spread their opinions then nobody cares”””” because it’s middling.Only extreme viewpoints are exciting enough to spread and be seen. This is why everything SEEMS radically polarised. You won’t get lots of clicks if you aren’t crazy.”””
So… are all those videos on Youtube with clearly AMERICAN men complaining of Star Wars, specially in respect to SWJs… actually russian men with very good accents?
So… are all those videos on Youtube with clearly AMERICAN men complaining of Star Wars specially in respect to SWJs… actually russian men with very good accents?
What part of this article makes you think that Brian thought this bot story was anything other than a symptom of mental illness?
What part of this article makes you think that Brian thought this bot story was anything other than a symptom of mental illness?
Would you rather the subject not be researched?
Would you rather the subject not be researched?
This is great, ,ore analysis on bot campaigns and identifying them is definitely warranted. Bots don’t lead the campaign, they just allow people to then express their worst thoughts because the thought is already out there. For example, when Person A sees hundreds of “people” shoveling around hate and one of the shovels happens to be full of something they’re frustrated about, they join in. At worst, the “people” rile up Person A to get frustrated about something which they previously weren’t even frustrated about. The key point is that the chances of them joining in had the other “people” not been shoveling in the first place would have been greatly reduced. It’s one of the biggest reasons why the U.S. is so divided right now.
This is great ore analysis on bot campaigns and identifying them is definitely warranted. Bots don’t lead the campaign they just allow people to then express their worst thoughts because the thought is already out there. For example when Person A sees hundreds of people”” shoveling around hate and one of the shovels happens to be full of something they’re frustrated about”” they join in. At worst”” the “”””people”””” rile up Person A to get frustrated about something which they previously weren’t even frustrated about.The key point is that the chances of them joining in had the other “”””people”””” not been shoveling in the first place would have been greatly reduced. It’s one of the biggest reasons why the U.S. is so divided right now.”””
Putin is going to pay for all this in the comming months and years. Russian population unfortunately will pay too.
Putin is going to pay for all this in the comming months and years. Russian population unfortunately will pay too.
Some of us actually love TLJ despite agreeing with a couple plot holes here and there, y’know. I don’t think this paper is blaming all negative opinions on social media meddling. I always thought it was suspicious that I didn’t hear about way more middling opinions of the movie, rather than polarized hate/love. Most of my friends had middling opinions. Almost anyone who both doesn’t appreciate Rian Johnson’s ideas around Star Wars, *and* isn’t totally married to their own / the EU’s own further characterizations of Luke, Leia, and what’s believable in Star Wars, should have a middling opinion.
Some of us actually love TLJ despite agreeing with a couple plot holes here and there y’know. I don’t think this paper is blaming all negative opinions on social media meddling. I always thought it was suspicious that I didn’t hear about way more middling opinions of the movie rather than polarized hate/love. Most of my friends had middling opinions. Almost anyone who both doesn’t appreciate Rian Johnson’s ideas around Star Wars *and* isn’t totally married to their own / the EU’s own further characterizations of Luke Leia and what’s believable in Star Wars should have a middling opinion.
The air-headed academia is reaching critical mass and about to explode.
The air-headed academia is reaching critical mass and about to explode.
OMG…Now Brian is looking under his bed for Russian Agents, too! Unbelievable.
OMG…Now Brian is looking under his bed for Russian Agents too!Unbelievable.
Lots of news stories are being written now that would have come from The Onion 10 years ago. A lot of this stuff is happening in the universites right now.
Lots of news stories are being written now that would have come from The Onion 10 years ago. A lot of this stuff is happening in the universites right now.
I guess, I am one of those Russian bots then 😉
Never knew!
Or maybe, just maybe, many of us “old” Star Wars fans do not like the direction the new movies have taken. Ungracefully, killing off our favorite characters. Turning a fairy tale (with a happy ever after) into something Californians can relate to (but that few people really like).
As far as I am concerned, the new movies do not exist.
Your’s Skipjack (apparently a Russian bot).
I would encourage more researches like this, they will secure Trump’s second term.
Nope! Nice try Disney. The real and only reason everyone dislikes your movie is because its soooo bad. Plain and simple. I don’t personally know anyone who did like it. Russia didn’t cause it. You did. Seriously. I was hopeful that you would avoid the mistakes made by Lucas and Peter Jackson with the prequel trilogies (star wars and the Hobbit respectively) but instead you just got greedy and decided you could get away with anything. The historically low approval ratings (for a star wars film) of Last Jedi are fans telling you you were wrong. Please stop trying to blame your failure on an outside source that no one including yourself actually believes is responsible. It just makes you look bad. Really bad. Take responsibility for it and fix it. That’s all we’re interested in. And I’m sorry but saying Russian social media ads decided a presidential election is so laughable I literally thought people were joking when they first said it. Did Russia put up ads? Perhaps. Lets assume they did. Tons of them. So what? Since when has any political ad ever changed your mind? They never will. Let’s be a bit more rational and think out our own conclusions instead of regurgitating what the media propagates. ANY media.
Hello comrades, this Russian bot story is how you say, making mountain out of fake molehill.
The original story never claimed that it was actually “Russian bots”. Russian bot is just another way of saying Trump supporter.
I remember, during the elections, Clinton was so rabid against Russia and using them as boogeymen, it felt like she wanted to go to war or something, to the point that I was relieved when Trump got elected : at least he was chill about russia (and the left promptly portrayed him as a russian puppet).
Think what you will but I don’t want a 3rd world war.
sad but true state of what academia has turned into.. id also hate to be a writer for the onion because they cant possibly come up with crazier stuff than real life.. posting something normal is now rebellious
Amen brother.. i finally had enough of the fricking insanity.. i was wrong to say its both sides and no ones perfect .. the shit has gotten so nuts on the left im ashamed to even admit i was a part of it
Considering at this point the GRU is all YOLO and going on a spree of flagrantly exposed hornets nest kicking ops in all sorts of weird places, this sounds shades of possible. Which was the point of the GRU ops that have been successfully tied to them (and the whole Active Measures information warfare philosophy), information overload and cognitive disruption separating fake news from real due to quantity and the cognitive costs in refuting popular BS, thus effectively shutting down critical thought in a targeted populace which local actors will coincidentally pounce on for private benefit since they are easy pickings. Propaganda has morphed in the information age into hypervelocity troll meme farms, which are particularly effective in regimes with poor information control systems. Who could have predicted semiotic warfare would be a thing well before AI?
Then on top of that is the internecine clash between GRU and FSB spilling out into the open, using foreign activities as the backdrop.
We live in interesting times…
We can only hope so.
This is good.
No, seriously.
As a clever man once observed “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
This sort of insanity is a mistake. Pretending, let alone actually believing, that everything that doesn’t go your way (elections, film reviews, drug trials, roulette spins…) must be the result of secret Russian robots is not going to help promote the whacky left.
It makes them look crazy. It demonstrates a childish fantasy to their politics. It’s like when the American right had groups believing in mass devil worshipping human sacrifice cults. It just makes the average person lump them in as “well I certainly don’t want those lunatics to win the election”.
Even in debates it works against them. If person A accuses person B of being a white, hetrosexual, cis, christian who is privileged and takes advantage of social structures… well many people might think there is something to that. If you add in that they are ruled by mind control robots from Russia…. well clearly the accusation is the product of a diseased mind. We’ll ignore what this person is on about and go back to watching football.
I’ve known for a long time that Southern California is packed with nutty democrats. If it had not been the Russians, it would have been global warming, or assault weapons.
Did your friends with middling opinions bother writing up 5000 word screeds in which they concluded “Well… it was OK I guess.”?
Did those essays lead other people to get angry or excited enough to spread the essays across the internet?
No. If people have middling opinions then they tend to keep it to themselves. Even if they do bother to spread their opinions then nobody cares, because it’s middling.
Only extreme viewpoints are exciting enough to spread and be seen. This is why everything SEEMS radically polarised. You won’t get lots of clicks if you aren’t crazy.
So… are all those videos on Youtube with clearly AMERICAN men complaining of Star Wars, specially in respect to SWJs… actually russian men with very good accents?
What part of this article makes you think that Brian thought this bot story was anything other than a symptom of mental illness?
Would you rather the subject not be researched?
This is great, ,ore analysis on bot campaigns and identifying them is definitely warranted.
Bots don’t lead the campaign, they just allow people to then express their worst thoughts because the thought is already out there. For example, when Person A sees hundreds of “people” shoveling around hate and one of the shovels happens to be full of something they’re frustrated about, they join in. At worst, the “people” rile up Person A to get frustrated about something which they previously weren’t even frustrated about.
The key point is that the chances of them joining in had the other “people” not been shoveling in the first place would have been greatly reduced. It’s one of the biggest reasons why the U.S. is so divided right now.
Putin is going to pay for all this in the comming months and years. Russian population unfortunately will pay too.
Some of us actually love TLJ despite agreeing with a couple plot holes here and there, y’know. I don’t think this paper is blaming all negative opinions on social media meddling. I always thought it was suspicious that I didn’t hear about way more middling opinions of the movie, rather than polarized hate/love. Most of my friends had middling opinions. Almost anyone who both doesn’t appreciate Rian Johnson’s ideas around Star Wars, *and* isn’t totally married to their own / the EU’s own further characterizations of Luke, Leia, and what’s believable in Star Wars, should have a middling opinion.
The air-headed academia is reaching critical mass and about to explode.
OMG…Now Brian is looking under his bed for Russian Agents, too!
Unbelievable.
Lots of news stories are being written now that would have come from The Onion 10 years ago. A lot of this stuff is happening in the universites right now.
Yeah well the only problem is that majority of fans ARE disspointed with last jedi.” I don’t agree. I think those who are disappointed are loud and want their opinion to be known, as is commonly the case (getting rid of excess emotional energy). I know people who liked it, and people who hated it, and the only trend I see is that the majority of people who didn’t like it are making their opinion known to the universe. “New star wars is total failure, and this laughable “report” is just next retarded attempt to spin counter-narrative sot hat Disney will not go bankrupt.” You must not have read my reply closely. This paper’s main focus, as I had highlighted, is that there exists “evidence that political influence through manipulation of social media discussions is no longer exclusive to political debate but can now also be found in pop culture.” Other comments, such as the “data does not support claims that a majority of fans are so dissatisfied with The Last Jedi”, are not supporting any claim. It even says that, right there…with words. “The reasno why NBF is making fun of this “report” is because its ludicrous if you are fan of SW and you know what people are talking about. Not just on internet. It was crappy movie, period.” I appreciate your opinion, but just because one is a fan does not exempt oneself from reading. The reason why I commented was not because posters were poking fun at the premise of the presented conclusion of the paper (by all means, poke away). Rather, it was that the paper’s conclusion was never understood or seemingly given a chance; whether it be just reading the title, or taking for granted that others had read the paper and basing comments of of their comments, or excess emotional energy needing to find an escape, never before on this site had I seen so many posters miss the point absolutely. Poking fun? Sure. Reading “A” and understanding “B”, when “A” could be understood with 9 minutes of reading? Disappointing.
Yeah well the only problem is that majority of fans ARE disspointed with last jedi.””I don’t agree. I think those who are disappointed are loud and want their opinion to be known”” as is commonly the case (getting rid of excess emotional energy). I know people who liked it and people who hated it”” and the only trend I see is that the majority of people who didn’t like it are making their opinion known to the universe. “”””New star wars is total failure”””” and this laughable “”””report”””” is just next retarded attempt to spin counter-narrative sot hat Disney will not go bankrupt.”””” You must not have read my reply closely. This paper’s main focus”” as I had highlighted”” is that there exists “”””evidence that political influence through manipulation of social media discussions is no longer exclusive to political debate but can now also be found in pop culture.”””” Other comments”””” such as the “”””data does not support claims that a majority of fans are so dissatisfied with The Last Jedi”””””” are not supporting any claim. It even says that”” right there…with words.””””The reasno why NBF is making fun of this “”””report”””” is because its ludicrous if you are fan of SW and you know what people are talking about. Not just on internet. It was crappy movie”””” period.””””I appreciate your opinion”” but just because one is a fan does not exempt oneself from reading. The reason why I commented was not because posters were poking fun at the premise of the presented conclusion of the paper (by all means poke away). Rather it was that the paper’s conclusion was never understood or seemingly given a chance; whether it be just reading the title or taking for granted that others had read the paper and basing comments of of their comments or excess emotional energy needing to find an escape”” never before on this site had I seen so many posters miss the point absolutely. Poking fun? Sure. Reading “”””A”””” and understanding “”””B”””””””” when “”””A”””” could be understood with 9 min”