Monsanto paid an industry front group to claim its own weedkiller is safe and attack its critics.

submitted by HibikiBlackCaudillo from naturalblaze.com

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[–]hennaojisan 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I don't know if they had been tracking me for a while or it was a one-off but after arguing civilly for a few exchanges he/she/the bot made the offer. I just ignored it and after a few more exchanges the conversation ended. The offer was clear but with no details since I was clearly not interested. The time frame would have been about 2015, the date mentioned in the article.

When dealing with Israeli matters I found that in at least two cases an extended debate ended with my interlocutor saying words to the effect that: I'm an Israeli schoolboy and am just expressing what I've been told, so as to evoke sympathy on my part. Was it someone or a bot at Mossad Unit 8200? I don't know. I never waste my time like that nowadays and neither has this kind of shill/bot appeared on Saidit yet unless their techniques are much more sophisticated and subtle now, as I expect they are.

I suppose others have had similar experoences.

[–]sodasplash 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

That is odd. I’d almost just dismiss that as someone larping. I’d been thinking of an article where they talked to actual Americans who were actually employed by companies like Monsanto but shockingly I’m not seeing it.

I did a quick search and came up with this article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cyber-shills_b_2803801

Which describes the industry in general.

And this article: https://slate.com/culture/2013/02/paid-internet-commenters-an-investigation-into-the-bizarrely-complex-marketing-strategy-of-the-dish-network.html

In which DISH openly admits to doing it.

Interesting, none of the articles are more recent than 2013.

[–]hennaojisan 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yes, I meant to include the larping possibility but didn't. If I had expressed interest in the job offer it would clearly have made my position weaker. Now I'll read your links.