Around the time Kamala Harris was taking over the reins of the Democratic presidential ticket, a mysterious group reportedly began a smear campaign against her, paying social media influencers tens of thousands of dollars to promote posts, according to reports.

In late July, a network of influencers who had been recruited to push conservative messages about Donald Trump or President Joe Biden throughout the summer, received an email requesting they make colorful sexual insults about Harris, according to Semafor.

In return, they would be paid tens of thousands of dollars via Zelle, a digital payments network.

      • SatansMaggotyCumFart
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        -618 days ago

        The Russophobia on this site is simply disgusting.

        It’s one of the most powerful and free countries in the known universe and Lemmy should have more respect.

        • @[email protected]
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          8 days ago

          Did you miss this recent news?

          Justice Department Disrupts Covert Russian Government-Sponsored Foreign Malign Influence Operation Targeting Audiences in the United States and Elsewhere

          Influence Operation Relied on Influencers, AI-Generated Content, Paid Social Media Advertisements, and Social Media Accounts to Drive Internet Traffic to Cybersquatted and Other Domains

          e: or was that /s? Poe’s law broke my sarcasm detector years ago

        • KillingTimeItself
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          98 days ago

          im russophobic, not slavophobic. There’s a difference, thank you very much…

          /s for shitpost obviously.

        • @vulgarcynic
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          88 days ago

          maybe if their leader(s) hadn’t spent 20+ years attempting to subvert global democracy and sow seeds of radical, racist violence across the internet we’d feel a touch different…

  • @zaph
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    1239 days ago

    Trump is literally a rapist. What could she have possibly done that could compare in the slightest?

    • @[email protected]
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      289 days ago

      Hey! It could totally be some other nation state that has strong, documented ties to the party running against Harris!

      /s

        • Optional
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          49 days ago

          You mean with the cyber? Yeah probably. Of course the cyber is very big.

          • AmidFuror
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            28 days ago

            I don’t know why I didn’t realize before today that it could have been Barron Trump!

      • @[email protected]
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        48 days ago

        There must be dozens! At least eight! No doubt five other nations are doing it, and when we catch both of them, boy howdy won’t that country be upset!

  • @[email protected]
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    789 days ago

    she could be a coke snorting hooker with her own line of designer buttplugs, and i’d still vote for her over trump

    • @[email protected]
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      98 days ago

      Anyways, enough politics. Tell me more about these hypothetical designer Kamala Harris buttplugs…are they shaped like her or…?

    • Cethin
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      17 days ago

      I want to live in the world where it’s not wrong for a campaign to sell buttplugs. What a great world that would be, where sexuality isn’t some evil presence to be hidden away. If that ever happens, that candidate probably has my vote.

  • @[email protected]
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    459 days ago

    The Internet used to be a common resource and information system.

    Now it is a propaganda warzone.

    • Optional
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      139 days ago

      Well, yes. But only because it’s cheap as dirt and massively effective.

      • @[email protected]
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        17 days ago

        Demagogue is the old word for influencer, people that prey on emotions and prejudices to manipulate people to agree with them politically.

  • kn0wmad1c
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    9 days ago

    I think it’s hilarious that the lede makes it appear that this story was broken by George Santos, who lies about literally everything.

  • @[email protected]
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    -529 days ago

    I don’t get why they don’t attack her on her policies (like supporting Israel’s genocide), not on superficial bullshit

    • @[email protected]
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      299 days ago

      Perhaps it’s because a) it works, and b) they know republican policy is less popular. They could lie about policy (well, more than they already have), but I think they’re going to save that for after the first debate, personally.

    • AmidFuror
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      249 days ago

      You mean like they could try to get leftists to vote for Jill Stein or write in Che Gueverra instead? I think they already do that, but not through right wing influencers, if you know what I mean.

    • @[email protected]
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      27 days ago

      They already attack her for not supporting Israel’s genocide enough.

      If you think Republicans are going to do anything to stop Israel from wiping every single Palestinian off the face of the earth, you’re an idiot.