Imane Khelif not eligible to compete in boxing world championships 2025

There may have been. But overall, the onslaught of opinion and trial by social media tilted primarily to one side shows otherwise.

Left-wing troll farms exist, but aren’t anywhere as common and organised as right-wing ones.

I'm sure that Russia employs such tactics, as does the U.S, Iran, China and every other superpower, but 'the Russian bot theory' has now just become the latest conspiracy theory used to dismiss the validity of counter-arguments.

And are people who try to derail discussions by talking about bots actually less coherent and more disruptive than the than the purported bots who "amplify" discussions?

Is this a general "talking about unapproved things is bad" view?

I think you’re a Russian bot, Philosophies. You have only ever posted on this thread and you’re determined to sow discourse by claiming things that aren’t true.

They were amplifying the narrative of she’s cheating/she’s a man/IOC bad etc. Much of the posts on SM at the time were actually bots.

Okay, that's a view. But given that view, what on earth leads you to believe there weren't bots on the "she's not cheating/she's a woman/IBA bad" side?

And why are we supposed to care about bots more than women?

Not all of those things are proven to be so … yet.

I didn’t say they were all bots.

Bots amplify SM messaging to sow division isn't the story. It is whether bots are amplifying lies to sow division or amplifying the truth to sow division.

Yes. Most of the women who are not part of any feminist groups that I know found out from the BBC.

I'm 100% behind Coe, but equally the mood music around this has already changed. Whoever the lady is who is the IOC candidate who was very supportive of Koch's position at the time - she's changed her tune and is now loudly talking about the need to safeguard women's sport.

I guess nobody wants to be associated with the same kind of shitshow that we saw at the Olympics and that Koch's legacy will always be tainted by.

But he was cheating, he is a man, and the IOC were utterly incompetent. Anyone looking at the facts could see that, and women were, rightfully, angry about it and discussing it.

Where is the evidence that these accounts were all bots? Plenty of women I know were absolutely outraged at the situation unfolding.

How is this continued discussion about Russians and bots relevant?

There was plenty of activity in discussing whether those two male boxers should have been allowed to compete that was not due to any Russian or bot activity. And yet, there are people who continue to focus on it.

It is not relevant to the overall discussion. That Bach discussed it in his statement is simply sparple.

They were amplifying the narrative of she’s cheating/she’s a man/IOC bad etc. Much of the posts on SM at the time were actually bots.

The vote is on Thursday.

When do we find out if Seb Coe has got the gig? With him in post and the visa ban imposed by the orange man in the shite house, women are in with a chance in 2028.

Nice to see the results of the IBA World Championships without reading the names of cheats. Some of the winners were Olympic medalists so hopefully their moment has come.

Maybe the Russians have implemented a brainwashing plot like in Zoolander than means every time they hear the word “gender” it triggers the same response Relax did, and they instantly sit down and write articles denying reality, instead of trying to assassinate someone.

Or maybe the journalists write the truth. But a Russian AI algorithm changes it to lies, and then locks out anyone from changing it. And prevents people from reporting such shenanigans. Or tweeting about it. So we never know the extent of their meddling.

Or maybe, just maybe, people are stupid enough and dissonant enough on their own.

The mainstream media were doing plenty of their own obfuscation. I remember articles that didn't even mention failed eligibility tests and others that tried to suggest that DSDs meant a genuine 'in between' state rather than every DSD being sex specific. I also remember journos pushing that narrative that Khelif is female with a DSD, despite no female DSD fitting the profile of what we see with Khelif.

Egregious? That’s a strong word. Where’s the evidence there was a systematic effort from Russian-based bot farms to sow discourse in the western world by stirring up different narratives around whether Khelif is, or isn’t (which is the fact), a woman?

Why would they bother when there’s enough idiots ignoring the truth without their help? Are you saying the only reason people won’t accept the truth is because the bot farms keep misleading them? Like I said, infantilising nonsense.

It seems it’s too hard to believe that western people are stupid enough on their own, it must be the nasty Russians that are making us so 🙄

It’s egregious to claim there was no Russian influence on the Khelif narrative. There absolutely was. This does not go into the facts of the case, rather the narrative that was relentlessly inflated on SM.

There was no “Russian influence on the Khelif narrative”. There were people who believed in the facts and reality of sex chromosome testing. And there were people who didn’t.

Of course he does. He’s a sporting federation executive of many years. (The article you quote is from 2016, BTW.) We are speaking specifically about Russian infiltration and control of the IBA and other boxing federations, plus the Russian influence on the Khelif narrative in social media particularly.

Yeah. I probably would say that if I saw a unicorn to be honest.