The Rise of Anti-Flock Influencers Who Make Things Up for Clout
www.404media.co
Instagram influencers are creating fake cease-and-desist letters, making themselves go viral and muddying the waters about mass surveillance.

How embarrassing that this is what people are doing to create viral content.

  • ranzispa@mander.xyzEnglish
    5·
    10 hours ago

    If you want to do something, meet people and organize. Do not follow influencers on Instagram.

  • brucethemoose@lemmy.worldEnglish
    19·
    18 hours ago

    • Nothing on the internet is real.

    • Don’t feed the trolls.

    I feel like if there was a dedicated class in schools worldwide, that just did nothing but teach these two things over and over again, the world would be a better place.

    …Because the fundamental issue is that people are believing this guy. And feeding him. He is a troll, making cash being a troll; he cannot help himself. But the public maybe possibly can.

    • PowerCrazy@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      6 hours ago

      That has been my go to for a long time, but then you get people upset and demanding mods censor words and view points and of course advertisers pumping real money to people in exchange for hosting content. So it makes a mess of things :/

    • NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zipEnglish
      8·
      15 hours ago

      Holy shit that had been what I have been saying from what we learned in the BBS days.

      Basically anyway:

      • everyone one on the internet is a liar
      • stay anonymous, and because everyone else is too: see rule 1
      • dont feed the trolls.
      • luciferofastora@feddit.orgEnglish
        3·
        14 hours ago

        I wish my real name was Lucifer :(

        But also, I wanted to look up the history of BBS and had to spell out “bulletin board” to get the right results from DDG, so maybe what you learned thirty+ years ago just isn’t common sense among people that weren’t even on the internet when that market collapsed.

        (I myself didn’t see the heyday either; I learned those lessons in games and on forum boards in the aughts and tens.)

          • luciferofastora@feddit.orgEnglish
            1·
            11 hours ago

            Honestly, computer literacy in general. Even back when I was in university, basic comprehension of how computers work was lacking even among IT students. Not as egregious as the various user horror stories you’ll probably have heard, but bad enough.

            I admit that our software dev 1 teacher starting the first lecure by opening a terminal, viming together a basic Java Hello World without explanation, then compiling and running it wasn’t a great start for anyone except the lucky few that knew enough to not be deterred.

            But the general idea what files are should be common knowledge, the “hacker” impression of the command line should be demystified a little, and the distinction between monitor, computer and hard drive… actually, maybe we should leave that one out for the sake of entertainment.

    • PowerCrazy@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      4 hours ago

      Nah that influencer is just chasing clout. He sucks. The flavor of the week is Flock, next week he’ll find something else to grift about.

    • Techno-rat@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      24·
      1 day ago

      good hunch. What makes controlled opposition effective is precisely the smokescreen it creates. Because its very plausible this is constructed, and unfortunately just as plausible that it’s just social media brainworms… Casting doubt on every part of the equation.

    • Rioting Pacifist@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      1 day ago

      Seems unlikely.

      I don’t understand the desire on the left to pretend there are no clout chasers that take up left causes just for clout, I guess it’s easier to pretend everyone that does a bad thing while being vaguely aligned with us is “controlled opposition” than to think critically or even just read the article.

      Occupy might have been different I wasn’t there but I suspect 95% of the wild anecdotal shit either didn’t happen or was done by a leftist who believed some dumb shit.

      • CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        6·
        19 hours ago

        I don’t understand the desire on the left to pretend there are no clout chasers that take up left causes just for clout

        Nobody is doing that though. What they are doing is questioning whether this is common enough to even bother reporting on. The media loves to blow things out of proportion in order to create a viral story, which is exactly why people are bringing up Occupy Wall Street. Back then the media would find the kookiest person they could to stick in front of a camera so that person would be seen by the public as a clownish representative for the movement even though they weren’t.

    • yetAnotherUser@lemmy.caEnglish
      1·
      7 hours ago

      How? Are you suggesting that people will now show criminal evidence online just to prove that they got a cease and desist? That would be beyond stupid, and I don’t think there’s anything in the article that suggests it. There are other ways to prove it, such as asking Flock’s legal team (if they say they did, it’s because they did), or verifying if the letter has a consistent format and return address with other cease and desist letters that the legal team sent.

    • CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      10·
      19 hours ago

      Or to get it into the zeitgeist that “all these people complaining about Flock are just lying and doing it for clicks.”

      • riot@slrpnk.netOPEnglish
        3·
        17 hours ago

        I would highly recommend looking into the author’s history of reporting. Jason Koebler covers Flock and internet culture. This bizarre story is covering what the big tech algorithms are spitting out.

    • mynameisbob@lemmy.mlEnglish
      3·
      1 day ago

      we in a simulation… not that you are wrong about things but just askew. Like everyone. It is just all shaddows dancing on the walls. A unholy puppet show. Edward Bernays butt baby.

  • mynameisbob@lemmy.mlEnglish
    8·
    1 day ago

    Reminds me of DNC funded leftist breadtubers. A whole arse sea of dildos to employ on both sides to farm outrage. Some got a whole team of marketurds. We in the matrix. Really it is an attempt to co opt the conversation to deflate the real opposition so they can ram it through. Both parties want this. IT i$ A mAtTuRd oF nAti()nAl sEcuRitUrdY… nOw g0 tO jAiL Fooooooorever.

    • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      10·
      1 day ago

      I, uh, definitely would have worded this with more care, but if anyone believes their side is somehow immune to corporate interests funding or manipulating drama and outrage? It’s dumb to think that the rich sociopaths would uniquely mess with one political side while leaving another completely alone.

      Nothing to do with any side being right, wrong, better, or worse. Everything to do with rish assholes being rich assholes.