I hope the French don't fall for this like we did.
Twitter needs to decisively put a stop to these bot armies. It can't be that difficult to detect them through ML. The bot armies are not only responsible for propagating outright lies, they also frequently target people for online harassment. I've heard from many people that were almost unable to use Twitter due to information/message overload once they were targeted. Twitter seems to not only allow the harassment, but requires users to wade through the post spam. I would imagine at some point the usefulness of having a Twitter account approaches zero for many of these people that have been targeted.
Show us the code.
>far-right wackos
It's also a mistake to put Le Pen in the same box as the likes of Trump. For one, she's a highly educated, and secondly, the far right in France has a rather long history of being the only party to say anything substantive on the topic of immigration and security. (It's worth noting that the immigration situation in France is very different from the US). I'm not a huge fan of Le Pen, but dismissing her as a "wacko" is exactly why she has maintained a growing electorate; each time media in France has tried to label her as a nutcase, they've essentially refused to address the very real concerns that motivate her electorate.
That is the sad part about European politics. The (champagne) Left is so enamored by the notion of EU as a peace project, that they can't see that they are undermining their very voting base (the working class) in the process.
This has left the doors wide open for the far Right to wrap their xenophobia in terminology that claims they worry about workers rights and livelihood, when they really want to see every last "foreigner" (anyone with enough skin color or other feature that makes him stand out from across the street) tossed over the border (at best).
Frankly I was with you up until this point. I think this attitude is essentially the same as the one you're condemning, albeit on the topic of immigration rather than the EU project.
To use your turn of phrase, the (champagne) Left is so enamored by the notion of the "friendly foreigner" and "global society" that they can't see that they are undermining their very voting base in the process. More specifically, said Left is unable to engage in a serious discussion about border security and immigration without accusing everybody of racism.
This has left the doors wide open for the far Right to monopolize the conversation on immigration. The net effect is that anyone who cares about security and identity politics has only one party to turn to.
I mean no disrespect, but this attitude is a large part of what got us here. Wanting to reduce immigration and harden border security is not equivalent to xenophobia.
Le Pen is probably a far right wacko as well, but I don't know enough about her to form an opinion.
Facebook is much harder and a much bigger influence. More Americans get their news from Facebook than Twitter, and all the Facebook data is inside a walled garden.
We're soon as a society going to need to deal with disinformation and political targeting on Facebook and Twitter. And the role of that disinformation in our politics. And when I saw "our" I mean US, UK, France and most of their allies.
Macron is the globalization candidate. Le Pen is something else.
That accords with Putin's goals.
That's why the Russians hacked Macron's campaign and released emails today.
The issue I'm raising is that a very significant portion of the French populace is "euro-skeptic". Recall that a few years ago, the French voted "no" to the EU constitution (by referendum), and were subsequently overruled by the government.
Many French are still very pissed about this.
Are you suggesting we not give them a democratic voice because Putin is also against the EU? That would be a very stupid move in a country whose national sport is going on strike.
Are you suggesting the hack was coordinated by Russia? I'm not sure what this changes.
US Senate Intel committee and FBI head has said US knows Russia is right now targeting the French election.
These are facts.
That's why the Russians hacked Macro
Are you disputing that?
US senators have also said that there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and that Assad used chemical weapons against the Syrian population. In both cases, credible information has never been put forward to the public.