#market bot

[alwaysbewoke]

honestly, FUCK ISRAEL!!

[whatudottu]

Wouldn't it be funny for the hot doctor Knock Out to not actually be that big a fan of sex. Still tho- it doesn't stop him from tormenting his husband with horny thoughts <3

Hah, instead of leaving him cold and sleaveless in just scrubs alone, I gave dear KO a puffy racer jacket (you know damn well it's ruby red), and to give himself an excuse to wear it in the medbay and on the field, he's got the Decepticon medical symbol patched on his arms :)

hmm does the implied impregnation mean i need to tag this as something?

[derpinette]

there should be a poke feature here like there used to be on facebook

[thepastisalreadywritten]

(CNN) — Jack Latham was on a mission to photograph farms in Vietnam — not the country’s sprawling plantations or rice terraces but its “click farms.”

Last year, the British photographer spent a month in the capital Hanoi documenting some of the shadowy enterprises that help clients artificially boost online traffic and social media engagement in the hope of manipulating algorithms and user perceptions.

The resulting images, which feature in his new book “Beggar’s Honey,” provide rare insight into the workshops that hire low-paid workers to cultivate likes, comments and shares for businesses and individuals globally.

“When most people are on social media, they want nothing but attention — they’re begging for it,” Latham said in a phone interview, explaining his book’s title.

“With social media, our attention is a product for advertisers and marketers.”

In the 2000s, the growing popularity of social media sites — including Facebook and Twitter, now called X — created a new market for well-curated digital profiles, with companies and brands vying to maximize visibility and influence.

Though it is unclear when click farms began proliferating, tech experts warned about “virtual gang masters” operating them from low-income countries as early as 2007.

In the following decades, click farms exploded in number — particularly in Asia, where they can be found across India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, and beyond.

Regulations have often failed to keep pace: While some countries, like China, have attempted to crack down on operations (the China Advertising Association banned the use of click farms for commercial gain in 2020), they continue to flourish around the continent, especially in places where low labor and electricity costs make it affordable to power hundreds of devices simultaneously.

‘Like Silicon Valley startups’

Latham’s project took him to five click farms in Vietnam.

(The click farmers he hoped to photograph in Hong Kong “got cold feet,” he said, and pandemic-related travel restrictions dashed his plans to document the practice in mainland China).

On the outskirts of Hanoi, Latham visited workshops operating from residential properties and hotels.

Some had a traditional setup with hundreds of manually operated phones, while others used a newer, compact method called “box farming” — a phrase used by the click farmers Latham visited — where several phones, without screens and batteries, are wired together and linked to a computer interface.

Latham said one of the click farms he visited was a family-run business, though the others appeared more like a tech companies.

Most workers were in their 20s and 30s, he added.

“They all looked like Silicon Valley startups,” he said. “There was a tremendous amount of hardware … whole walls of phones.”

Some of Latham’s photos depict — albeit anonymously — workers tasked with harvesting clicks.

In one image, a man is seen stationed amid a sea of gadgets in what appears to be a lonely and monotonous task.

“It only takes one person to control large amounts of phones,” Latham said. “One person can very quickly (do the work of) 10,000. It’s both solitary and crowded.”

At the farms Lathan visited, individuals were usually in charge of a particular social media platforms.

For instance, one “farmer” would be responsible for mass posting and commenting on Facebook accounts, or setting up YouTube platforms where they post and watch videos on loop.

The photographer added that TikTok is now the most popular platform at the click farms he visited.

The click farmers Latham spoke to mostly advertised their services online for less than one cent per click, view or interaction.

And despite the fraudulent nature of their tasks, they seemed to treat it like just another job, the photographer said.

‘There was an understanding they were just providing a service,” he added. “There wasn’t a shadiness. What they’re offering is shortcuts.”

Deceptive perception

Across its 134 pages, “Beggar’s Honey” includes a collection of abstract photographs — some seductive, others contemplative — depicting videos that appeared on Latham’s TikTok feed.

He included them in the book to represent the kind of content he saw being boosted by click farms.

But many of his photos focus on the hardware used to manipulate social media —webs of wires, phones and computers.

“A lot of my work is about conspiracies,” Latham said. ” Trying to ‘document the machines used to spread disinformation’ is the tagline of the project. The bigger picture is often the thing we don’t see.”

Click farms around the world are also used to amplify political messages and spread disinformation during elections.

In 2016, Cambodia’s then-prime minister Hun Sen was accused of buying Facebook friends and likes, which according to the BBC he denied, while shadowy operations in North Macedonia were found to have spread pro-Donald Trump posts and articles during that year’s US presidential election.

While researching, Latham said he found that algorithms — a topic of his previous book, “Latent Bloom” — often recommended videos that he said got increasingly “extreme” with each click.

“If you only digest a diet of that, it’s a matter of time you become diabetically conspiratorial,” he said.

“The spreading of disinformation is the worst thing. It happens in your pocket, not newspapers, and it’s terrifying that it’s tailored to your kind of neurosis.”

Hoping to raise awareness of the phenomenon and its dangers, Latham is planning to exhibit his own home version of a click farm — a small box with several phones attached to a computer interface — at the 2024 Images Vevey Festival in Switzerland.

He bought the gadget in Vietnam for the equivalent of about $1,000 and has occasionally experimented with it on his social media accounts.

On Instagram, Latham’s photos usually attract anywhere from a few dozen to couple hundred likes.

But when he deployed his personal click farm to announce his latest book, the post generated more than 6,600 likes.

The photographer wants people to realize that there’s more to what they see on social media — and that metrics aren’t a measurement of authenticity.

“When people are better equipped with knowledge of how things work, they can make more informed decisions,” he said.

“Beggar’s Honey,” co-published by Here Press and Images Vevey, is available now.

[skymantle]

sometimes i think people are a little ridiculous and fearmongery about ai on here and then i open twitter and see takes like "that image of a mouse in a suit is ai so im putting my painting commissions on indefinite hold because ai stole the joy from me" (...what about your existing clients??) and "this database uses art from consenting artists but it's still bad for some reason and if you contribute to it every Real Artist hates you" and I think okay maybe it's Not So Bad here after all

[mockingmolly]

THIS is why not having an icon or anything on your blog will get you blocked. bc mass bot-following is a huge issue here and there’s absolutely no way people aren’t going to mistake you as one when you pop up in their notifs.

[0meatloaf0]

write a fanfiction about RocheCiri please

...??

[Looks at my blog full of blood and gore that is also distinctively lacking in whoever those two are and distinctively lacking in fandom writing from me]

This feels sort of like when porn blogs receive messages about what they think about the death penalty, except it's a seemingly out of left field ask about a ship I didn't even know existed on my horror whump general angst blog. I think you are quite lost, OP. Do you need directions back home?

[tadashitea]

I've been holding back on covering the Pacific Wharf section of Disneyland as it's being renovated and such but I will comment on this new news.

All in all, I've been underwhelmed with how it looks because they never really make much from the franchise just in the "theming" of the franchise which I suppose is still a win that it's even getting attention at all but I digress. Perfect example right here, The Aunt Cass Cafe'

Looks cool but nothing like the Lucky Cat like we all know and love but I also understand this is concept art, it's not actually built yet. (Though August seems pretty close)

What I truly wanted to talk about was this-

The Hamada Bot Shop. It's a meet and greet but I really like this idea for the characters, where Hiro opens up a bot shop, keeping the garage like feel where he tinkers with scrap.

(let's just hope he isn't still making them for bot fighting)

But what I see cited in all the articles I've read is "This is where the Big Hero 6 team builds and innovates their hi-tech gear, so you may also see a few of their upcoming inventions." which probably means that they'll have shenanigans where they test a new experiment.

But THIS is Maker's Market right next to it and hey, look it's Good Luck Alley! But it's probably how you'd imagine, something similar to the Savi's Workshop where you build your own lightsabers (they've been doing a lot of that lately).

But those banners are most interesting. In order of left to right-

Smash Bot, Cerberus Bot (which explains the Cerberus Lair sticker below), Worm Bot (Trina made the cut, hooray!), Little Yama, Snips

And of course, the most well known Megabot. (Also Saw Bot but he's beneath Worm where he belongs.)

[discluded]

Congratulations to Mile for being one of Lefty's top EMV influencers at Menswear SS24 fashion week! This is super cool because it means he's made the top 10 across both Milan and Paris men's fashion weeks and not just Paris men's.

access the full report here.

Lefty previously named Apo one of Dior Gateway to India show's top influencers. Click through for more information on EMV in that post.

[alwaysbewoke]

[andrewtopten]

😎Make your day up to date.. have you got the Link in description. don't be late create your own profession and enjoy your day 👍👉

[magic-is-something-we-create]

today on insane stuff my characters are doing: nimbus has discovered he loves raves while tagging along with xiv to buy a bunch of drugs and also illegal robot parts. hes getting very drunk in the hopes of being able to Actually Sleep

yes, this is one of the most fun scenes ive written for him recently

no, i dont think his portion of the book counts as high fantasy any more,,

[widgenstain]

WHY is something mundane Andrew said in a podcast weeks ago about something that happened years ago suddenly a world news headline?! Wtf is going on!?!?

[gammija]

has anyone else gotten an influx of 'weird' followers lately? Not the typical spambot 'pretty lady pic + nonspecific username', but blogs which DO have posts, but seem like they're, for lack of a better word, built around a gimmick. Some clearly have generated text posts but some are juuust realistic enough that I can't figure out if they're actually real people or just a new brand of bot

[jaythelay]

Will republicans understand the stock market doesn't affect anyone but rich people and showing me something that the japanese market caused is not remotely proof that it was Kamala that did it...when she's not even president?

What is going on with r/conservative. Here, look at this:

First off, and as always, anytime r/conservative reaches people's front page, they assume they're being brigaded. Because believe it or not, they're unpopular all around and so is every opinion they have. But sure, increased visibility is somehow not related to the influx of disagreements.

Second, here it is on my front page

It's not like anyone had to search for the subreddit... Weirdos.

Then we got the comments, and right off the bat, the comment section changed just while I was going back for that screenshot. Including this:

Which is incredible, considering just above them removing normal people's comments is this:

But of course there's gotta be something hilarious in there so read this and laugh

And...like...Why lie? What a weird thing to do about something so easily debunkable. Yeah sure Reddit didn't mention the...presidential assassination by a republican shooter...Yeah nothing about Tenacious D either huh? Nor when ya'll put maxi-pads on your ears? Why Lie?

And. And again. Kamala...isn't president...and she isn't the reason Japanese markets flopped?

Republicans are beyond parody.

[reputayswift]

🫶