Notices by Renee DiResta (noupside@saturation.social), page 2

Last week was the 1st disclosure from OpenAI confirming that state-linked actors were using their tools for influence operations —something that’s always been a question of when, not if, if it would happen.

But we also got a disclosure from Meta, incl some of the same ops — bc after you create content you have to spread it. Theirs showed that this time, it got no pickup…

https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/06/08/1093356/propagandists-are-using-ai-too-and-companies-need-to-be-open-about-it/

New work on SIO blog: “How Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Continues on Social Platforms”

We looked at threat indicators that Meta posted in its Q3 2023 transparency report (attributed to 🇨🇳 , 🇷🇺 , & 🇮🇷 ), noticed that some platforms had not taken down attributed accounts, found more accounts that appeared to be linked, and followed to see what happened.

https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/io/news/how-coordinated-inauthentic-behavior-continues-social-platforms

I feel like I hit some age, maybe 35, where forever after every minor cold has turned into some kind of long-lasting infection. My kids are better in two days, and I suffer for two weeks.

🧵 I wrote ab the “is Signal secure?” manufactroversy on X. The Guardian wanted an explainer on why Elon & Jack were “concerned” about Signal. The answer, though, has nothing to do w/Signal’s product. It was part of an extended fight over whether woke NPR should be defunded & the CEO fired. Why? Because the CEO of NPR is on the board of Signal; by the Transitive Property of Bad People, Signal is thus compromised.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/may/18/npr-elon-musk-signal

Last week Twitter Files substack blogger Paul Thacker was back in my inbox, wanting to speak to the manager. Paul, if you didn’t send me stupid emails, I wouldn’t post them to the internet.

Here are excerpts from the latest bad faith media inquiry from the Bullshit Industrial Complex, shared to explain how it works. This man -a notorious hack- claimed to have “whistleblower” docs showing that I secretly ran election interference ops, particularly for the U.S. Dept of Defense.

This is a lie.

Often it’s a waste of time to respond to bad faith inquiries, but the bullshit industrial complex relies on non-response to say “DiResta declined to respond!” &create impression of guilt. Then comes innuendo: Thacker claims a company I left in early 2019 had sketchy DoD contracts & is implying I did too. Whether they did, whether I had anything to do with it, is irrelevant – the MO is to state two things and let the audience intuit the connection they want to believe.

So here was my response

I used to reference chemtrails in 2015-era talks as one of those conspiracy theories that were prevalent in online fringe groups but which largely stayed confined to niche communities…and now these sorts of things are popping up *and passing* in state legislatures https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/04/05/minnesota-republicans-introduce-legislation-inspired-by-the-chemtrails-conspiracy-theory/

Apply! This is a really fun program (I gave a talk last summer, and really loved seeing all the participant projects) and prob right up the alley of a lot of people on Mastodon.

https://studio.ribbonfarm.com/p/cfa-summer-of-protocols-2024

Does media shape public perception or is it just people’s firsthand experiences of government not working for them?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/27/republicans-democrats-democracy-polling/

Matt Taibbi has now gone on the Hill TV and claimed that my work is sponsored by DHS and State (it is not), so my calls to use section 230 to “bring these companies to heel” were an “overt threat” (I said no such thing; he lied about this below). CHD is quoting the appearance for their audience. This repetition is how they launder their lies into reality for their followers.

https://saturation.social/@Noupside/112128214710568718

Matt Taibbi is currently having a multi-day meltdown over the extent to which his Twitter Files conspiracy theory was destroyed in SCOTUS oral arguments Monday. And in keeping with his deception over the last year, he deliberately misquoted and lied about me again.

First image is Matt’s post. Second is what I actually said. I was literally expressing *the opposite* point of view - that CDA 230 is not a fix for misinformation and it’s a waste of time when Govt tries to use it that way.

Fascinating article on use of generative AI for overt political propaganda — making a cuddly cute avatar of a General running for office in Indonesia. There’s a lot more in here that’s likely also covert - bots etc - but worth reading some reaction commentary from people consuming the stuff.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/generative-ai-faces-major-test-indonesia-holds-largest-election-since-boom-2024-02-08/

Conversations with the 3yo on this family holiday visit: “what are you going to be when you grow up?”

“A human. But a little bit taller.”

Academic institutions - many institutions - just do not know how to respond to bad faith attacks. The game has changed. The opponents don’t care about facts, only optics. Communications teams must start to understand what they’re actually engaging with.

I just turned in my book manuscript!

I could have second-guessed every word for many more weeks but it feels so good to just be done with it.

Since Alex Jones is back on Twitter and it is being processed in the context of “free speech” I would like to share one of my favorite content policy documents of all time: Infowars’ TOS.

All civilizations have rules.

As the first election in the age of unreality approaches, it’ll be interesting to see how compliance shapes up, and how this is enforced.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-06/google-to-require-prominent-disclosures-for-ai-generated-election-ads

What will YOU spend your precious 600 posts a day on?

ngl…I appreciate this real-time experiment in friction in design 😂

“My follower count is dropping! I’m being censored!”

Lol no your mid content just resulted in unfollows bc people don’t want to accidentally consume you as part of their 600 posts.

People say a lot of crazy things on the internet; I usually ignore it. But today, after nearly a full month of being smeared by Twitter Files writer Michael Shellenberger, including in sworn Congressional testimony, I’m releasing some files of my own: our WhatsApp texts, email conversation, and an interview that he did of me but never published.

https://reneediresta.substack.com/p/fiction-vs-reality-my-texts-with