Anecdotally, I feel that some sort of tool like this is being used on YouTube as well. I don't use other 'social media' platforms.
I've created two accounts, one where I mostly watch left-wing videos and one where I watch more right-wing videos. Mostly local news and political discussions.
From the comment sections, it seems that the left-wing videos are very often 'under attack', as if someone sees a new upload from a channel and shares the link in a group, where group members comment (and dislike, RIP) in a negative way and about semi-related topics. Mostly conservative rhetoric and lately conspiracy stuff as well. Also upvoting of similar comments and negative replies to comments from 'normal' viewers.
I don't see it that often anymore in the past few months, but last year it looked like an obvious pattern to manipulate the discussion. Maybe the comments are all from unconnected individuals, but it felt unnatural and coordinated.
Actually you don't need sophisticated tools for this, just create a WhatsApp/Telegram group with a couple hundred fanatics that share links with each other to bash/hate on.
I have noticed the same behavior, looks like someone somewhere has subscribe to these left/neutral channels and they get a notification as soon as the video pops up and start disliking and commenting unrelated right wing stuff. Most users also have default auto-generated thumbnails.
I've created two accounts, one where I mostly watch left-wing videos and one where I watch more right-wing videos. Mostly local news and political discussions.
From the comment sections, it seems that the left-wing videos are very often 'under attack', as if someone sees a new upload from a channel and shares the link in a group, where group members comment (and dislike, RIP) in a negative way and about semi-related topics. Mostly conservative rhetoric and lately conspiracy stuff as well. Also upvoting of similar comments and negative replies to comments from 'normal' viewers.
I don't see it that often anymore in the past few months, but last year it looked like an obvious pattern to manipulate the discussion. Maybe the comments are all from unconnected individuals, but it felt unnatural and coordinated.
Actually you don't need sophisticated tools for this, just create a WhatsApp/Telegram group with a couple hundred fanatics that share links with each other to bash/hate on.