The Secret Playbook of Social Media Censors – The “Counter Reset”
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Blue Pilgrim
Feb 27, 2014, 6:56:49 PM2/27/14
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Also see
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/02/27/gchq-f27.html
Snowden documents show US, UK spy agencies infiltrate online groups
By Nick Barrickman
27 February 2014
PDF
at
http://www.scribd.com/doc/209134100/gchq-jtrig-the-art-of-deception-training-for-a-new-generation-of-online-covert-operations
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-secret-playbook-of-social-media-censors-the-counter-reset/5370943
The Secret Playbook of Social Media Censors – The “Counter Reset”
By Washington's Blog
Global Research, February 26, 2014
Washington's Blog
Theme: Police State & Civil Rights
Glenn Greenwald’s piece on manipulation of the
Internet by intelligence agencies gives examples
– based upon documents leaked by Edward Snowden –
of how governments disrupt social media websites.
Other whistleblowers have provided very specific
information about how agents disrupt social media news sites.
This essay will focus one specific technique: the “Counter Reset”.
To explain the Counter Reset technique, we have
to understand the concepts of “momentum” and “social proof”.
Specifically, the government spends a great deal
of manpower and money to monitor which stories,
memes and social movements are developing the
momentum to actually pose a threat to the status
quo. For example, the Federal Reserve, Pentagon,
Department of Homeland Security, and other
agencies all monitor social media for stories
critical of their agencies … or the government in
general. Other governments – and private corporations – do the same thing.
Why?
Because a story gaining momentum ranks high on
social media sites. So it has a high probability
of bursting into popular awareness, destroying
the secrecy which allows corruption, and becoming
a real challenge to the powers-that-be.
“Social proof” is a related concept. Social
proof is the well-known principle stating that
people will believe something if most other
people believe it. And see this. In other words,
most people have a herd instinct, so if a story
ranks highly, more people are likely to believe it and be influenced by it.
That is why vested interests go to great lengths
– using computer power and human resources – to
monitor social media momentum. If a story
critical of one of these powerful entities is
gaining momentum, they will go to great lengths
to kill its momentum, and destroy the social
proof which comes with alot of upvotes, likes or
recommendations in social media.
They may choose to flood social media with
comments supporting the entities, using armies of
sock puppets, i.e. fake social media identities.
See this, this, this, this and this. Or
moderators at the social media sites themselves can just censor the stories.
Or they can be more sneaky … and do a Counter Reset to destroy momentum.
Giving specific examples will illustrate the
technique. Reddit moderators have continuously
reset the counter over the last couple of days on
the new Greenwald/Snowden story, to destroy
momentum which would otherwise have guaranteed
that the story was the top story.
Similarly, the owners of popular Youtube channels
have repeatedly reported that Counter Resets are
done on their most controversial news stories.
The attractiveness of the Counter Reset from a
moderator’s perspective is that it destroys
momentum, while leaving some plausible deniability.
If users point out that the story keeps getting
spiked, the moderator can say that it hasn’t been
censored, but instead that the moderators have
allowed it to stay up (with periodic Counter Resets along the way).
Alternatively – if the moderators have
continuously deleted the story each time it is
posted – the moderators can say that it has been
posted “numerous times”, and pretend that shows
that they are letting the story gather momentum,
when they are in fact deleting it again and
again. For example, when hundreds of Redditors
complained yesterday that the Greenwald/Snowden
story kept getting deleted, moderators chimed in
on every thread proclaiming that the story had
run multiple times … without admitting that it had been deleted each time.
Now that you know about the Counter Reset, watch
your favorite social media sites to see how this
technique is used for the hardest-hitting stories
and videos which directly challenge the legitimacy of the powers-that-be.
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/02/27/gchq-f27.html
Snowden documents show US, UK spy agencies infiltrate online groups
By Nick Barrickman
27 February 2014
at
http://www.scribd.com/doc/209134100/gchq-jtrig-the-art-of-deception-training-for-a-new-generation-of-online-covert-operations
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-secret-playbook-of-social-media-censors-the-counter-reset/5370943
The Secret Playbook of Social Media Censors – The “Counter Reset”
By Washington's Blog
Global Research, February 26, 2014
Washington's Blog
Theme: Police State & Civil Rights
Glenn Greenwald’s piece on manipulation of the
Internet by intelligence agencies gives examples
– based upon documents leaked by Edward Snowden –
of how governments disrupt social media websites.
Other whistleblowers have provided very specific
information about how agents disrupt social media news sites.
This essay will focus one specific technique: the “Counter Reset”.
To explain the Counter Reset technique, we have
to understand the concepts of “momentum” and “social proof”.
Specifically, the government spends a great deal
of manpower and money to monitor which stories,
memes and social movements are developing the
momentum to actually pose a threat to the status
quo. For example, the Federal Reserve, Pentagon,
Department of Homeland Security, and other
agencies all monitor social media for stories
critical of their agencies … or the government in
general. Other governments – and private corporations – do the same thing.
Why?
Because a story gaining momentum ranks high on
social media sites. So it has a high probability
of bursting into popular awareness, destroying
the secrecy which allows corruption, and becoming
a real challenge to the powers-that-be.
“Social proof” is a related concept. Social
proof is the well-known principle stating that
people will believe something if most other
people believe it. And see this. In other words,
most people have a herd instinct, so if a story
ranks highly, more people are likely to believe it and be influenced by it.
That is why vested interests go to great lengths
– using computer power and human resources – to
monitor social media momentum. If a story
critical of one of these powerful entities is
gaining momentum, they will go to great lengths
to kill its momentum, and destroy the social
proof which comes with alot of upvotes, likes or
recommendations in social media.
They may choose to flood social media with
comments supporting the entities, using armies of
sock puppets, i.e. fake social media identities.
See this, this, this, this and this. Or
moderators at the social media sites themselves can just censor the stories.
Or they can be more sneaky … and do a Counter Reset to destroy momentum.
Giving specific examples will illustrate the
technique. Reddit moderators have continuously
reset the counter over the last couple of days on
the new Greenwald/Snowden story, to destroy
momentum which would otherwise have guaranteed
that the story was the top story.
Similarly, the owners of popular Youtube channels
have repeatedly reported that Counter Resets are
done on their most controversial news stories.
The attractiveness of the Counter Reset from a
moderator’s perspective is that it destroys
momentum, while leaving some plausible deniability.
If users point out that the story keeps getting
spiked, the moderator can say that it hasn’t been
censored, but instead that the moderators have
allowed it to stay up (with periodic Counter Resets along the way).
Alternatively – if the moderators have
continuously deleted the story each time it is
posted – the moderators can say that it has been
posted “numerous times”, and pretend that shows
that they are letting the story gather momentum,
when they are in fact deleting it again and
again. For example, when hundreds of Redditors
complained yesterday that the Greenwald/Snowden
story kept getting deleted, moderators chimed in
on every thread proclaiming that the story had
run multiple times … without admitting that it had been deleted each time.
Now that you know about the Counter Reset, watch
your favorite social media sites to see how this
technique is used for the hardest-hitting stories
and videos which directly challenge the legitimacy of the powers-that-be.
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