Has the government got paid posters here to quash any dissenting voices?

[ssd]

There's always been robust discussions on politics on mn, but I've noticed lately when ever someone questions the government's track record on covid, certain posters pop up with very similar agendas, defending them to the hilt and trying to throw the discussion round to something else.

I'd like to see when posters actually joined mn, some newer posters must spend all their time on here defending the indefensible.

[StopTouchingYourFaceDave]

We are all individuals with opinions of our own however there does seem to seem to be a massive increase in seemingly immortal posters following the epic failure of "Cummings is only human" threads

[strugglingwithdeciding]

Or maybe they are just people who don't agree with you as guess what we are all allowed our own opinions

[strugglingwithdeciding]

And the word bots is ridiculous , same as astroturfers or what ever rubbish it is , we live in a feed country and people can have opinions different to others and can like Boris if they so choose

[strugglingwithdeciding]

**Free not Feed
I really dispose with some on here who really I my feel that their opinion is valid and anyone who doesn't agree with them is a Bot or some other similar stupid word , really some people need to grow up and realise it's not all about them and people can disagree , world would be boring if we all thought the same

[Papatron]

I have been accused of being a 'bit' on occasion, simply for holding a different opinion to someone. I am not afraid of the virus and think we should get back to school and back to normal ASAP.

However I firmly believe there are paid shills for government and corporations. They are all over social media. This isn't paranoia, it is reality. Propaganda is not a new thing - just the form it takes has expanded to accommodate modern methods of communication.

I've seen fairly obvious shill comments both in favour of my opinion and against.
Also, bits and shills work by influencing "real" people who then parrot their soundbites.

What's needed to deal with all the misinformation and propaganda at the moment is for people to be honest and admit when something is bullshit rather than going along with obvious lies just because it supports their overall point of view or political party.

[drivingtotestmyeyes]

@struggling I don't think necessarily it's the ones who disagree, it's more the ones who lead the conversation back to something they want to highlight that is positive or negative about the government (depending on who they work for) and rarely post on other topics, they also seem to post on certain days/times as if they are the working hours.

MN is massive it's unlikely there isn't paid posters for all parties

[Staysafer]

I'm surprised people even question that this is a thing.

You get millions of a counts of Facebook, Twitter etc that are known to be fake, I don't see why MN should be immune to this.

If people can try to influence public opinion through suggesting that rare views are actually mainstream, they will.

I noticed that when I ran an AIBU poll, that the majority of loud voices on here do not reflect the views of the majority of those who actually read the site. You do have to question why that would be.

[Mrhodgeymaheg]

I have considered this, but after some thought I just came to the conclusion they are just narrow minded twats.

[effingterrified]

[TheHoneyBadger]

It’s possible to be both. It’s probably a requisite on the application form.