Over the past few months, I’ve noticed a sharp increase in proactive foreign state propaganda across major Western social media platforms.
The pattern became undeniably clear around September 11, when an overwhelming volume of hostility, anti-American messaging, and divisive narrative pushes flooded feeds across multiple platforms. Whenever I attempt to engage with these posts or debunk blatant disinformation, my account rapidly becomes the target of coordinated backlash—ranging from sudden downvote brigading and mass reporting to lockouts and automated harassment.
It leads to a broader question about how foreign influence operations—particularly those linked to actors like state-aligned bot networks (e.g., "Spamouflage")—operate beyond their own borders. While foreign governments cannot directly delete content on American platforms, they seem to rely heavily on manipulating platform algorithms, abusing automated reporting systems, leveraging major calendar events (like 9/11), and deploying bot networks to suppress counter-narratives and silence individual users.
With major elections and midterms consistently serving as prime targets for foreign interference, these tactics appear to be getting more aggressive. Instead of just pushing state-sanctioned talking points, these campaigns increasingly aim to disrupt organic debate, hijack community moderation, and foster general distrust in democratic discourse. I don't know what's your take on it?