How Macedonia Became A Global Hub For Pro-Trump Misinformation

[Denzil_DC]

Source: BuzzfeedNews

...

Over the past year, the central Macedonian town of Veles (population 45,000) has experienced a digital gold rush as locals launched at least 140 US politics websites. These sites have American-sounding domain names such as WorldPoliticus.com, TrumpVision365.com, USConservativeToday.com, DonaldTrumpNews.co, and USADailyPolitics.com. They almost all publish aggressively pro-Trump content aimed at conservatives and Trump supporters in the US.

The young Macedonians who run these sites don’t care about Donald Trump. They are responding to straightforward economic incentives: As Facebook regularly reveals in earnings reports, a US Facebook user is worth about four times a user outside the US. The fraction-of-a-penny-per-click of U.S. display advertising — a declining market for American publishers — goes a long way in Veles. Several teens and young men who run these sites told BuzzFeed News that they learned the best way to generate traffic is to get their politics stories to spread on Facebook — and the best way to generate shares on Facebook is to publish sensationalist and often false content that caters to Trump supporters.

As a result, this strange hub of pro-Trump sites in Macedonia is now playing a significant role in propagating the kind of false and misleading content that was identified in a recent BuzzFeed News analysis of hyperpartisan Facebook pages. These sites open a window into the economic incentives behind producing misinformation specifically for the wealthiest advertising markets and specifically for Facebook, the world’s largest social network, as well as within online advertising networks such as Google AdSense.

“Yes, the info in the blogs is bad, false, and misleading but the rationale is that ‘if it gets the people to click on it and engage, then use it,’” said a university student in Veles who started a US politics site, and who agreed to speak on the condition that BuzzFeed News not use his name.

Read more: https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/how-macedonia-became-a-global-hub-for-pro-trump-misinfo

[elleng]

1. How the Internet Is Loosening Our Grip on the Truth

'Next week, if all goes well, someone will win the presidency. What happens after that is anyone’s guess. Will the losing side believe the results? Will the bulk of Americans recognize the legitimacy of the new president? And will we all be able to clean up the piles of lies, hoaxes and other dung that have been hurled so freely in this hyper-charged, fact-free election?

Much of that remains unclear, because the internet is distorting our collective grasp on the truth. Polls show that many of us have burrowed into our own echo chambers of information. In a recent Pew Research Center survey, 81 percent of respondents said that partisans not only differed about policies, but also about “basic facts.”

For years, technologists and other utopians have argued that online news would be a boon to democracy. That has not been the case.'>>>

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016169428

[forest444]

2. I'm not sure it's related; but I gather many Serbians are in the tank for Trump over the '99 bombing

Many Serbians (and Serbian-Americans) have, perhaps understandably, never forgiven Bill Clinton for the NATO bombings in 1999, and would support anyone against Hillary.

That Milosevic had carried out the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II never seems to dawn on them (actually it does - but usually they feel the Muslims "deserved" it).

There are many, many exceptions of course; but unfortunately this still is still a fairly common sentiment in the Serbian community.

Again, this may be completely unrelated.

[elleng]

5. US generals “concerned” over possible ties between Trump and Russia.

BELGRADE – A group of 62 former senior military officials in the United States, including retired general Wesley Clark, expressed on Wednesday concern about the potential link between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, writes Serbian daily “Kurir”.

https://inserbia.info/today/2016/11/wesley-clark-us-generals-concerned-over-possible-ties-between-trump-and-russia/

[forest444]

6. Good find, Ellen. And that's not exactly their favorite human being.

To be fair, perhaps understandably so.

[elleng]

7. Thanks. Was looking for more esp re: Serbia.

[forest444]

8. Sure. I'm know these sentiments slightly because I used to live in a city w/ good number of Serbians

I was in high school when it happened, and I can't begin to express the seething hatred they felt for Bill Clinton over the bombing - as well as over the Dayton Accords and everything else he did to end the slaughter in Bosnia (which they viewed as gross meddling on his part).

Poppy Bush, you'll recall, had studiously avoided doing anything at all about the Bosnian genocide.

[elleng]

9. Yes, and I must say Clinton had to be dragged into it,

by Albright along with Wes Clark.

[forest444]

10. Right. I think the Somali fracas made him more than a little reluctant.

But he, more than anyone else, put a stop to what was shaping up to be the worst genocide since the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.

There are two sides to every story, of course. Nevertheless, he should be proud of that; it's certainly a hell of a lot more than Bush would have done.

[Igel]

12. And yet these are Macedonians.

They broke away from Serbia, and pretty much despise the Bulgarians. Both of which have fairly strong Russian ties.

Confusing them is sort of like confusing Italians and Spaniards because they're both "swarthy" Mediterranean types. Yes, they're all Slavs, but then again so are the Poles with their notoriously strong Russian connections. (not.)

[moondust]

13. Maybe some "slavic solidarity"

with Melania, who is from slavic Slovenia, and who may at some point in the past, present, or future develop some kind and generous feelings toward the old country/region.

[lindysalsagal]

14. So, which companies are paying for the ads? Follow the money. Is it fRump, himself?

Does anyone know if this is legal?

This is why I am not on facebook. I don't believe anything online unless I know the source, and their source.