• ramblechat@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    So what are the Bots doing? Who created them and why? I don’t understand the purpose of bots.

    • Martineski@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Currently nothing but once activated they may start spamming stuff everywhere. Owners can decide what gets upvotes and what gets downvotes which gives you a lot of power on a platform where downvotes/upvotes mean everything.

      • ramblechat@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Still don’t get it - someone makes a comment, bots upvote it so it gets seen by more people. Not really going to change the world.

        • Dr Cog@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Sure, but do you like ads that masquerade as posts? Because if you do then you’ll love the delicious taste of Diet Coke, grab one today! (16900 upvotes)

          • Margot Robbie@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Oh boy, I, for one, love the taste of Diet Coke, the perfect refreshing drink when you and your family watch my new movie, “Barbie”, only in theaters July 21st.

            • x4740N@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Companies advertising on here through AMA’s should also be prevented because it’s just advertising

        • gun@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          They don’t want to change the world. They want to let you know about hot singles in your area

        • Zamboniman
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          1 year ago

          Not really going to change the world.

          It will change enough minds on enough issues that this can be both very profitable and very significant for those using this for some kind of benefit to themselves or their organization. This is not a small effect when doing this on a large social media site (which isn’t Lemmy yet).

    • Zamboniman
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      1 year ago

      So what are the Bots doing?

      Many of them are doing nothing so far.

      No doubt they are available for sale to some company or individual that wants to buy them wholesale and start spamming or astroturfing.

      Who created them and why?

      People wanting to sell them for $$ mostly. In some cases, people biding their time to use them for mass spam, social misdirection, opinion forming, etc.

      I don’t understand the purpose of bots.

      In social media, a common and concerning use of them is to use them wholesale (comments, posts, and votes) to try and sway mass opinion on some issue to something the person responsible for the bots wants.