In short, I followed a German language X account, which I initially thought covered some interesting things (esp. re. energy policy which is a focus). But although a wide variety of topics are covered, I noted that there are recurring themes that seem to align with Russian interests (Ukraine and the West having been aggressive, warnings of nuclear war, Germany spending too much on defense etc). The german greens (which, as a reminder, have lately been fiercely pro Nato/pro Ukraine) are repeatedly criticized vehemently (both for energy policy and – more subtly – their FP stances).
These are all complex positions a reasonable educated person might have (but don’t align with any german political party at all). The poster engages in mostly well-reasonned dialogue on X. The very many posts are in flawless German, the quality of content is high. There are some posts revealing a human poster’s back story (job, where poster grew up, past political leanings). A plump russian bot would just tout AfD (german pro Russia right wing xenophobic party) stuff, which is very clearly not the case here.
I do know that it (this being a bot) is technically feasible, but is it conceivable (or has it even been already demonstrated) to run a super complex “personalized” influencer bot with a quite well hidden agenda (or am I having far-fetched/ paranoid thoughts)? Is it worth the effort (the account doesn’t seem to be too successful in terms of folloers). I am not interested in any political debate (about the above) here.
submitted by /u/That-Inflation4301
[link] [comments]