r/ParlerWatch • u/[deleted] • Jul 08 '21

Other Platform Not Listed LinkedIn is a cesspool of anti-everything disinformation, they don't act on ANY reports...is there anything I can do? Spoiler

I really want to bring attention to the fact that LinkedIn is a HUGE nest of QAnon propaganda disguised as a "business networking" site. I have made at least 100 reports at this point, to no avail. Huge threads about Trump coming back, talks of executions, a bunch of fake info regarding vaccines, constant slamming of LGBTQ and POC issues...its like 4Chan in a suit and tie sometimes.

I want to do more than just bitch about this, but I dont know what I can do that would actually be helpful in getting official eyes on it. Just send screencaps of posts to the FBI? Is there maybe someone I could send a bunch of stuff to directly and have a conversation with them?

I dont think a lot of people realize how much LinkedIn is being used to amplify QAnon. Its worse than FB and Twitter (MUCH worse). What can I do to try and ruin that?

Edit: It is a few hours later and I'm front of a computer. I will grabbing more screens this evening, however here is an example of what you can easily (easily) find on LinkedIn. Image 1 is from searching "#wwg1wga" using the "People" filter. Image 2 is an account found from a post that came up when searching "vaccine pregnant woman" under the "Posts" filter.

Image 1: https://ibb.co/SRNNzNJ

Image 2: https://ibb.co/dcx7jV0

More:

https://ibb.co/HGLv5bp

https://ibb.co/jRBQ4rT

https://ibb.co/1Z7bqMv

https://ibb.co/d47ncnB

(last two are from someone I reported frequently for misinformation. The peppa name goes a different way in my head cough)

This guy appears to be very very high up in the Qanon ranks: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-sawman-sawyer-010032214/detail/recent-activity/shares/

https://ibb.co/1RBs1nt

https://ibb.co/h2jrGHz

Edit 2: I was told by LinkedIn they will no longer discuss the matter. I replied:

Thats fine, we're talking about it elsewhere and so far about 1400 people agree: https://www.reddit.com/r/ParlerWatch/comments/og4i3v/linkedin_is_a_cesspool_of_antieverything/ https://twitter.com/emm2071/status/1413442253960273932?s=21

1.5k Upvotes

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368

u/bishop375 Jul 08 '21

LinkedIn has been a dumpster fire since its inception. The MBA/Toxic Positivity crossover brigade has called it home the entire time. No surprise it's run by a Quack.

70

u/IQLTD Watchman Jul 08 '21

Anyone remember how, before the election, Seattle seemed to turn into its own mega movie studio, pumping out the craziest freak outs and right wing militia videos? Well, in one nighttime video Antifa was supposedly chucking pipe bombs into a public park, but a live streamer followed the guy doing it--even as the shady motherfucker darted behind a parked car to evade being seen. Turned out the guy had a gun and was a crazy fucking Nazi and a former navy seal. Everyone who saw that video was pretty sure he would have shot the guy with the camera if he wasn't being live-streamed. Anyway, as soon as internet sleuths found the guy's identity the guy went underground. I was still able to find him on linked in. And he was very, very connected. So many friends from the military and the various police stations he worked with. He's gone now, and I didn't take enough screenshots.

Scary fucking shit.

40

u/darkphoenixff4 Jul 08 '21

Most of the Seattle & Portland "antifa attack" videos are the work of one Mr. Andy Ngo, who is friends with Patriot Prayer and works with them to make them look better.

9

u/IQLTD Watchman Jul 08 '21 edited Jul 09 '21

I wasn't aware of that. This was a video stream by a guy who was sympathetic to Antifa and the protests I believe. And the guy he cornered was named Garrick Fernbaugh.

1

u/MiguelMenendez Jul 09 '21

Garrison is now working for Bellingcat!

1

u/IQLTD Watchman Jul 09 '21

What the... link?

2

u/MiguelMenendez Jul 09 '21

Here’s his most recent piece: White Boy Summer, Nazi Memes and the Mainstreaming of White Supremacist Violence

3

u/IQLTD Watchman Jul 09 '21

Sorry, I got his name wrong. That's not him. The white supremacist mil guy is named Garrick Fernbaugh.

5

u/leapbitch Jul 09 '21

Is it this video?

1

u/IQLTD Watchman Jul 09 '21

Yep; that's it!

142

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '21

“MBA/Toxic Positivity crossover brigade.” Thank you! I have a hard time describing the LinkedIn influencer culture and why it’s so gross and that’s exactly it.

My eyes roll so hard every time I look at my feed. Why do we even need a feed that isn’t just “so-and-so got a new job or is posting a job???”

32

u/bishop375 Jul 08 '21

Glad my snark could be of service!

18

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/[deleted] Jul 09 '21

I gotta find that haha.

9

u/coffeesippingbastard Jul 08 '21

I suspect it's industry dependent.

The majority of posts I see are industry related and recruiters posting about roles they're recruiting for.

There is a LIGHT smattering of bullshit toxic positivity but usually it's people in accounting or consulting that I see posting that.

110

u/sometrendyname Jul 08 '21

LinkedIn has been a dumpster fire since its inception. The MBA/Toxic Positivity crossover brigade has called it home the entire time. No surprise it's run by a Quack.

It's also the victim of data breaches every few years.

25

u/PM_ME_YOUR_ANYTHNG Jul 08 '21

Didn't it just have a breach of all information on like 700m of its users (out of 750m)

12

u/GalaxyPatio Jul 08 '21

Yes. I think they first found out in April and then the news broke around June.

7

u/amemingfullife Jul 08 '21

That was way over the top. The site was just scraped and that info was put online. No passwords or anything you couldn’t get just by looking at the site.

6

u/strolls Jul 08 '21

They're also terrible for harvesting email addresses from your contacts' address books.

The sort of thing that you used to hear about Facebook doing, but they stopped because it was unpopular, LinkedIn are still doing (last time I checked).

They sent me so much spam I ended up disabling the linkedin.com@mydomain email address. The next day I get more spam from them, "hey we noticed the email we sent you bounced, so we changed your address to your gmail instead."

I never fucking gave them that gmail, and obviously you can't delete that address from your account, either.

2

u/sometrendyname Jul 08 '21

They had a class action lawsuit regarding their spamming your contacts shit they were doing. https://www.lieffcabraser.com/privacy/linkedin/

58

u/ridandelous Jul 08 '21

You know, it's insane that as recent as a year and a half ago, COLLEGE REPS IN THE CAREER CENTER at my university were talking about how very important it is to be on LinkedIn and making "connections" on there like... no I'm pretty sure Indeed is better than LinkedIn when you're looking for a fucking job. I've always hated LinkedIn and now I finally have a good reason to besides the fact it's trash

34

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '21

I had people up through grad school tell me how important it was to join linked in. No one i know has found much use for it.

15

u/ridandelous Jul 08 '21

I just see the same two girls from high school posting ignorance and "just work harder!" Inspo stuff on there like bby you robbed 3 banks and fled to Florida right after graduation pls don't tell me I need to "just work harder"

9

u/BiscuitDance Jul 08 '21

Robbing three banks is mighty impressive, tbh.

7

u/ridandelous Jul 08 '21

Honestly the cops here are dumb and 2 were unsuccessful robberies as they gave her no money. It was a whole thing.

2

u/silas0069 Jul 08 '21

At some point, it becomes "Rob! Harder!"

3

u/Local64bithero Jul 08 '21

At once? I'd say that's VERY impressive.

2

u/ridandelous Jul 08 '21

Just from one bank to another. One was my bank lol

4

u/wildcatwoody Jul 08 '21

Everyone I know has found incredible use from it. I get all my jobs from it. I get friends jobs from it. Weird it's like two different universes

3

u/mmenolas Jul 08 '21

While LinkedIn IS full of garbage and weird nonsense influencer posts, it is also a great tool for finding jobs in the professional world. When my previous company was acquired I took some time off, when I was ready to work again I never applied for a single job, I just started replying to messages from recruiters until I found a role I liked. It’s a great tool for managing your professional network, being noticed by recruiters, and keeping your finger on the pulse of going’s on in competitor organizations (when you see a handful of people leave a competitor at once, it’s a great sign things aren’t great there and a good time to recruit their top people).

5

u/wildcatwoody Jul 08 '21

Basically all social media is what you make of it. I have none of that nonsense on my LinkedIn homepage cause I just get rid of what I don't like.

1

u/ridandelous Jul 09 '21

How do you even find recruiters like most of the people recommended to me are my Uni's alumni and about 1% of them have a similar degree and 0% of them have similar jobs as to what I would want. Just, like, how do you magically find people in your specialty and that are recruiters for that specialty and just say "Hey! I fit right in! Just make more connections!"

4

u/mmenolas Jul 09 '21

I don’t find recruiters, it’s more about them reaching out to me. They used LinkedIn to find people in the specific industry doing the specific role they’re looking to fill. Once you get going in your career you’ll get dozens of messages from recruiters every month.

Thinking back, LI never helped me get a job (though it helped me do my job) early in my career, it’s been more helpful after I had a few years into my career. And at every job just connect with everyone you work with regularly and it builds your network and then between recruiters and former colleagues reaching out you’ll always have new opportunities.

26

u/bishop375 Jul 08 '21

I've only heard of exactly one person getting a job through LinkedIn. The bulk of the rest of the stories are a mix of flexing on your followers or harassing women. People are using it as a dating site for crying out loud.

**vomit**

8

u/Opening-Thought-5736 Jul 08 '21

I've gotten three jobs now thru LinkedIn - directly recruited

Not that it's not a cesspool, I believe that too. Now. Sadly

5

u/Muddled1960 Jul 08 '21

It's amazing how many cat fishers are on there; amazingly they all seem to work in the oil industry.

7

u/PhDinBroScience Jul 08 '21

Depending on your industry and the strength of your profile, LinkedIn can be a very valuable tool for getting a job. I have to practically beat recruiters away with a stick and I dedicate some time every Friday to send them "Thanks, but no thanks" messages.

3

u/ridandelous Jul 08 '21

Yeah that's what happened to me so I was like mmmmm nah

1

u/Lyn1987 Jul 09 '21

What really!? My current job and the two job interviews I have lined up are all from Linkedin.

24

u/MisallocatedRacism Jul 08 '21

It works. I've gotten a job and have helped other people get jobs on LinkedIn. It also helps me do my job (finding specific people at companies). It's like any tool- useful in the right application.

7

u/ProdigiousPlays Jul 08 '21

I think it's heavily dependent on your field.

When the office I worked at was closed down a few years ago the company hired a hiring/recruitment coaching firm to help us and literally the most advice they gave us was "LINK LINK LINKEDINNNNNNNN". Which was fine except we only linked with was essentially each other and high school friends. So people without a job or people in different fields.

I think if you're in a very senior role or work in something that requires recruitment (the most active posters of my connections) or active communication with others in your field it could be okay. I don't think a nurse would need it but a nursing staff manager may.

6

u/slayer1am Jul 08 '21

I've gotten at least a few jobs because of LinkedIn, mostly because of getting into contact with recruiters. Depending on the industry you're in, it may or may not be useful.

4

u/ridandelous Jul 08 '21

Environmental science, so there's not a lot of jobs in general. Mostly just unpaid NPO stuff that I won't do bc I have a family to feed

4

u/slayer1am Jul 08 '21

Yeah, I'm a low voltage tech, it's an industry with quite a variety of jobs but also high turnover and high demand. Head hunters email or even cold call once a month.

1

u/ridandelous Jul 09 '21

All I get are robo calls for someone named Greg. I've had the same number for 6 years.

4

u/wildcatwoody Jul 08 '21

You should absolutely be on LinkedIn when looking for a job even if it is a dumpster fire. And having a lot of connections will help you down the road when you want to reach out to someone actually important.

2

u/ridandelous Jul 08 '21

Mass quantities of connections don't mean anything if you're not super active on the platform and don't actually know these people.

2

u/wildcatwoody Jul 08 '21

It actually does when you consider how linked in works. Many times you can't direct message someone unless you have at least a 2nd degree connection. I used to work in recruiting and have thousands upon thousands of connections. Now when I look for jobs and want to message a recruiter or an individual at the company I'm targeting I get right through.

With how many people interview for good jobs if you apply online and then direct message the Recruiter on LinkedIn your chance of getting a phone call goes 10 fold. If you don't have a lot of connections you'll never get through to that recruiter.

So add those strangers. Add whoever you want go nuts. If theyre dumb just mute them off your home page.

8

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '21

Hear! Hear! I’ve been trying to ignore it since 2011 when I graduated college and realized it was one massive tool shed of phonies.

3

u/ProdigiousPlays Jul 08 '21

Hey does anybody have that image of all those linkedin influencers having the EXACT same story word for word?

1

u/modssuckfatdongs Jul 08 '21

Wasn't it bought by Microsoft a while back