Canadian Government Pays Organization To Troll Political Chat Forums

The Canadian government has been caught paying a media group to monitor online political discussion and respond to “misinformation,” in order words to spread state-sanctioned propaganda, in the latest scandal to hit the Harper administration. “Under the pilot program the Harper government paid a media company $75,000 to monitor and respond to online postings about the east coast seal hunt,” reports News1130.

Source: www.news1130.com...
Source: www.infowars.com...

How much more proof do you require? Shills and dis-informants are a very real threat under the guise of trolls and the misguided. Don't think for one minute that communities such as ATS are immune from our share of manipulation.

It's a pity that ATS doesn't have the ingenuity and balls to begin profiling and removing the shills.

reply to post by rexusdiablos


It is unnecessary. We should be able to provide intelligent counter-arguments to anything they throw at us

reply to post by rexusdiablos
I agree completely! To me this sight is all about countering dis info agents!

reply to post by rexusdiablos


Government should smarten up. If the Prime Minister has something to say, he should make his own account and go trolling himself instead of hiring some company to do it for him. I'd actually have a lot of respect for the Prime Minister if he actually responded personally to questions in a non-formal way, such as a discussion here on ATS.

Have you ever heard "the first one that smelled it is the one that dealt it?"



Just sayin'.

by the way how come no one has visited the thread below this?

The sheer stupidity and wrong intention in everything leaders are doing lately, and frankly always.

Not so proud to have Harper as my PM.

Originally posted by InvisibleAlbatross
It is unnecessary. We should be able to provide intelligent
counter-arguments to anything they throw at us

very true, however
some folks just dont have the time
to slime the trolls and shills on
a daily basis.

It's like trying to go fishing
and you get more bites
from the skeeters !!!!

it's counter productive

Originally posted by InvisibleAlbatross
reply to post by rexusdiablos

 

It is unnecessary. We should be able to provide intelligent counter-arguments to anything they throw at us

Hmm, but that's exactly what a shill would say... just teasing.

Unnecessary you say? Fine, let's not abscond them. If the provision of intelligent rebuttals are such remedial feats then should it not prove equally as remedial an endeavor to profile the shills?

As "adept" as you seem to like to think us ATS's are, you're hardly deploying a healthy level of foresight or selflessness. What about other "less adept" communities? Surely a profiling case study compiled by ATS would be of benefit to them, right?

reply to post by boondock-saint


Agreed. Furthermore, Albatross is completely overlooking the fact that the disinformation is archived as are the rebuttals and is presupposing that the reader will always opt for the perspective of the rebuttal. Albatross' outlook on this matter is again perceptibly selfish. Sure, he can distinguish the disinformation from the genuine dialog but makes no provision for the reader by condoning the free reign of the shill.

Originally posted by XxRagingxPandaxX
by the way how come no one has visited the thread below this?

You need to be a hell of a lot more specific. If you're referring to a thread board then bare in mind that the position of any given thread can fluctuate.

Ok those are good points, but I think that as a community, we can work together to debunk the bunk. For example, there are threads, like the Obama being an illegal, that sound really plausible from the OP, but when you read the replies from people who know more, they are quickly exposed as nonsense. Granted, without those replies, people could get tricked. Point taken

Originally posted by Signals
Have you ever heard "the first one that smelled it is the one that dealt it?"

I have indeed and yes, I'm a shill. My angle? I'm so brazenly honest about it that no-one supposes that it's actually true. Example? This post.

There are a few resident shills here for sure... It would be a lot of fun to name names, but that wouldn't get very far
The ones I see that are the most active seem to lurk in the political discussions the most... There are also a few that are constantly trying to ridicule and debunk things, but never show proof to backup their claims...
I would say that most serious researchers of alternative topics can identify the comments to ignore pretty easy though...

reply to post by InvisibleAlbatross


Yep, I concur that we have a solid and responsive community particularily when contrasted to other alternative communities. I'd love ATS to develop a convention for recognizing threads and users propagating disinformation. A stickied thread would do nicely.

Originally posted by alienreality
There are a few resident shills here for sure... It would be a lot of fun to name names, but that wouldn't get very far

The ones I see that are the most active seem to lurk in the political discussions the most... There are also a few that are constantly trying to ridicule and debunk things, but never show proof to backup their claims...
I would say that most serious researchers of alternative topics can identify the comments to ignore pretty easy though...

Care to point out a few? I don't doubt that there are people on here that oppose the general view of the standard ATSer (myself included), but I don't think there is a mass of them that work for Governments? But perhaps this article proves me wrong.

reply to post by alienreality


Specifically identifying members would be wavering path to pursue alright. Accusations may be liberally, unjustly and inaccurate dispensed at times.

For this reason I propose a generic thread and character profile whereby any member meeting the agreed criteria is understood to bare the characteristics of a shill without being accused or penalized as a shill. It would be of mutual benefit to our shilled community and the characteristically shill non-shills.

reply to post by For(Home)Country


No I will not point out any, because the mods here just would not take kindly to that I'm afraid...
I myself haven't seen a lot of them here, but I have seen a few that had me wondering, because of the way they always respond to certain topics.

Good People on ATS know the TROLL s when they hear or see them . Where do you think the word Troll came from. ATS people are some of the most intelligent people on the earth , and spot them fast an see right though a a hole Gov. Troll.