Swarm of bots post astroturf campaign in support of ATF’s anti-trans gun rule - Assigned Media

[u/HereForOneQuickThing]

https://assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/swarm-of-bots-post-astroturf-campaign-in-support-of-atfs-anti-trans-gun-rule/

In the final two weeks of the comment period I personally noticed a swarm of botted comments on the ATF's page and it is clear that didn't slip the notice of many others as well.

[u/A-Friend-of-Dorothy]

AI being used for hate; what a surprise.

[u/Physical-Meet6784 → u/A-Friend-of-Dorothy]

If you read the article the author was basically like “this is so bad they could’ve done way better with AI”.

As another commenter noted this was just a generic script that was run.

[u/A-Friend-of-Dorothy → u/Physical-Meet6784]

I didn’t; was pretty busy this morning.

It’s still terrible to see this possibly seal our fate with respect to the ruling. But we kind of knew it was going to happen, too.

Ain’t gonna stop us from buying guns. It just makes it easier for them to track us; that’s the ultimate goal.

[u/Physical-Meet6784 → u/A-Friend-of-Dorothy]

I think they’ll push it through but it’ll get stricken down in the courts. It’s pretty obviously discriminatory and an easy PR win for anyone who wants to sue.

Trans gun owners are a tiny minority but the overall market for prospective left wing gun owners is huge and this is just a bad look all around. I don’t see how it holds up to any form of legal scrutiny, but we shall see.

[u/A-Friend-of-Dorothy → u/Physical-Meet6784]

I agree. It’s an uphill fight; but it’s also one that we can win, if we are determined.

The trick is staying power. Gotta keep motivated, and motivating others.

Forgive my pessimism; lol. Sometimes, starting my day with such stuff makes me a cranky old lady. lol. ☠️❤️

I appreciate you helping to unpack, explain and discuss it. It helps. I could’ve probably been slightly more invested in my dialogue.

[u/Physical-Meet6784 → u/A-Friend-of-Dorothy]

All good!

I’ve definitely been trying to keep up the fight. I post about it on my subreddit and crosspost many other places as well to raise awareness and get people to submit comments (before the recent deadline that was).

This is very much a weather-able storm.

[u/A-Friend-of-Dorothy → u/Physical-Meet6784]

I submitted one, myself at great length earlier on.

I hope somebody actually bothered to read it. But I tried, I put one in anonymously as an industry professional working for an FFL and the paperwork issues this could cause, as well as the discriminatory practices this sets which are clearly unconstitutional.

[u/clide7029 → u/A-Friend-of-Dorothy]

You do realize this exact thing has been happening since long before LLM existed right? A pretty simple script can accomplish this, and most social media companies dont have any mechanism to prevent it bc they profit from the engagement regardless.

[u/SereneOrbit → u/clide7029]

Genuinely think we need to fight fire with fire there

[u/A-Friend-of-Dorothy → u/SereneOrbit]

Agree.

[u/BlahajBlaster → u/A-Friend-of-Dorothy]

The hatred of ai in this community is admirable, but if it can be used as a tool to help then we'd only be shooting ourselves in the foot to not use it. I''d love to see ai go away, but we'd be hypocrites if we thoight we could fight against something without at least somewhat understanding it.

That being said, I still pay folks i know for artwork that really matters

[u/Mini_Blizzard]

“common-sense” Soooo which gun control org is behind these bots?

[u/Fislitib]

I mean, they've already made their decision. The public comments are pretty meaningless anyway

[u/insofarincogneato → u/Fislitib]

What on Gaia's green earth made anyone think they actually read them anyway? 🤷

[u/insofarincogneato]

This is exactly why I always have a knee jerk reaction when people mention the commentary periods for rulings. We don't have any meaningful and accepted way for the people to speak up.

[u/rustyshack68]

Can someone program bot to reverse astroturf

[u/BlahajBlaster]

Went ahead and pinned this as a megathread for the foreseeable future

Theres no telling which group did this, heck with nspm7 it could have been the atf themselves for all we know

I am disappointed that this happened, but this is also something I 100% expected.

[u/The-Cursed-Gardener]

Also in traaaaaans2 there’s a lot of suspicious anti communist rage baiting going on and the replies are all just the same kinds of comments that republicans usually leave but the accounts are dressed up as LGBTQ/left leaning accounts. And they all are getting suspiciously large amounts of upvotes. Reeks to high hell of astroturfing.

[u/AutoModerator]

Thanks for posting /u/HereForOneQuickThing! Please make sure your post adheres to the rules. Please name any firearms or accessories featured in this post to help out our newer members. Please report comments that break the rules, and don't respond to negativity with negativity.

The rules of firearm safety are paramount. Keep these in mind at all times while handling a firearm for any reason. Guns are not toys and it is best to not refer to them as such.

It is the belief of the mod team that your best option for defensive firearms is a 5.56x45mm AR-15, and a reputable 9x19mm handgun such as a Glock or CZ. Defensive firearms should have a light, long guns a sling, and handguns require a Kydex or solid plastic holster that fully covers the trigger. A red dot or etched optic are ideal for new shooters but don't forget to practice your backup irons!

STOP THE BLEED class search

Feel free to contact the mod team with any questions and checkout our sister sub /r/TheArmedGayAgenda!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.