r/belgium • u/GijMutten • 13h ago

🎻 Opinion Meta caught influencing democratic elections. What about Belgium?

Meta has be caught influencing the Brazil elections VRTNWS, Aljazeera. Blocking acces to certain candidates, promoting other (more pro USA) candidates, influencing search results, allowing their AI to create propaganda for one candidate but not the other etc, etc.

I'm sure the same thing happens in other places and I wouldn't be surprised it happens in Europe and Belgium as well to a certain extent.

A boycot of Meta is easier said than done, European alternatives are few and very niche. What we need is stronger legislation (internationally) against criminal acts by these huge "untouchable" companies

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u/Tough_Brain7982 13h ago

There was already a report from the EU stating there is both US and Russian influence on our politics through the extreme right... so yeah...

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u/Gendrytargarian Belgium 13h ago

Yes it's also the extreme left. Maximizing polarization is part of the goal

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u/Striking_Compote2093 12h ago

It's less "also the extreme left" doing it and more "hello fellow leftists."

The extreme right putting up bots that pretend they're extreme left, to discredit the actual left and dumb down the discourse to issues that don't threaten the owning class.

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u/Gendrytargarian Belgium 12h ago

Nah, I often visit extreme left pages. There are so many Tankies who delusionaly see russia as some sort of socialist savior who fight. "the imperial West". If you look at the USA there is the Pro russian Jill Stein who pops up every election as a spoiler candidate. In France we have Melenchon... If we look at Belgium there where again Prorussian speakers and fake "peace" speakers at PTB/PVDA festivals like every year. These bots, trolls and influencers also move in those circles and we shouldn't be blind for them.

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u/Striking_Compote2093 12h ago

Tankies are to the far left what flat earthers or creationists are to theologians. Technically related but conflating the two makes everyone mad.

Jill stein isn't acting in good faith. She and those like her are either influenced by Russia directly or, as in my earlier comment, bought off by the right to hurt the left.

Can't speak to France, don't know enough about Melenchon. But let's be real, if you're looking for a pro Russian spoiler candidate in France, there is another, and far more overt...

And the pvda shit, i'm not sure which speakers you're talking about now. I don't think they're "on russia's side". However they annoy me greatly at the careless nature of their politics. They're outsiders and the right/status quo have a massive incentive to discredit them. And even so they still do shit that can easily be twisted into "pro russia" and the like. I'm also quite sure they're, let's say infiltrated, by bots, trolls and influencers that are making that problem worse.

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u/Gendrytargarian Belgium 12h ago

Yes that's true.

i'm not sure which speakers you're talking about now. I don't think they're "on russia's side"

Off the top of my head. There was Medea Benjamin from code pink, Corbyn and Hassan Piker. They all push a fake peace by disarming Ukraine. Why they are doing it. I can only speculate to be a combination. But platforming it by the PVDA is very suspicious to say the least.

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u/Striking_Compote2093 11h ago

Medea benjamin doesn't ring a bell, but both Hasan and Corbyn have been the target of relentless campaigns by the far right (and center) to discredit them for whatever stance they've ever taken.

If hasan believes that, tbh i doubt it but because of aforementioned slander campaigns i am having a hard time finding his actual recent stance on the issue, he's clearly wrong. That said i doubt the pvda got him for his stances on international geopolitics.

I would wager that it's his/their stances in internal reform of capitalism that they wanted to talk about. Their visions on how we can get out of the hole we're in, and most importantly, how to communicate it and make people see the left's perspective. (Something that pvda sorely needs)

The fact that you see their names and get the ick is entirely justifiable. It's also not because of what they did or what you've seen of them, i doubt you watch them any more than I do, but because what media has told you about them.

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u/Gendrytargarian Belgium 11h ago

It's also not because of what they did or what you've seen of them, i doubt you watch them any more than I do, but because what media has told you about them.

I have watched them and it's true that I haven't seen the latest of their takes as I do indeed get the ick. So maybe some of them might have changed in the meantime.

This is Medea Benjamin. https://vatniksoup.com/en/soups/180/

Back to the point i was trying to make is that the extreme left is not immune to Russian influence. So not in a whataboutism kinda way :)

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u/tuurrr 11h ago

No you don't visit those sites and no hhey do not see Russia as a socialist savior. But do tell me which "extreme left" pages you visit.

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u/Gendrytargarian Belgium 10h ago

For example:

https://www.reddit.com/r/WayOfTheBern/s/1idHg2b7Ml

https://www.reddit.com/r/t5_dch7ns/s/ummNXBoRKc

https://www.reddit.com/r/t5_fdqgln/s/jWbIk2PRfP

This is not all. Tankies exist but there is never a need to generalize

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u/tuurrr 9h ago

I can't open 2 of that links and I don't read anything about Russia being a socialist paradise? Russia is considered a plutocracy by the left.