Author | Lightnews

Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 16

Also on Hannity tonight: Citing Putin’s concerns about the security of US elections (pardon me while I die real quickly), Trump calls for “election reform” including getting rid of mail-in voting because Putin says it’s not secure.

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 16

On Hannity tonight, Trump says Putin told him that the US elections were “rigged” and that he had won the 2020 election “by so much”. Trump is absolutely eating this up with seemingly no consideration of the source.

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 10

Thanks so much for your post. I really appreciate it :)

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Reposted by Caroline Orr Bueno

Protective Hen❌👑 @protectivehen.bsky.social · Aug 10

@rvawonk.bsky.social, a key resistance leader during Trump1, is doing great work on Big Tech & MAGA's takeover of our info space for brainwashing & behavior mod - & how we can protect ourselves. See below &
weaponizedspaces.substack.com/p/silent-cou...
weaponizedspaces.substack.com/p/revealed-h...

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 9

Per CNN, police believe the Emory shooter targeted the CDC because he was sick or thought he was sick “and blamed the illness on the Covid-19 vaccine.”

And this is why we keep telling you that anti-vax conspiracy theories are dangerous.
www.cnn.com/us/live-news...

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 5

It’s the difference in info environments. When we had a media that could cover a story w/ few distractions, democracy couldn’t have died in daylight. Now, democracy can be slaughtered at high noon because 90% of the country will be scrolling through reels and looking for something to be angry about.

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · Aug 5

"It seems as if the authoritarian assault on the long-established and seemingly solid institutions of American democracy has reached a critical point....liberal democracy is being killed not in darkness but not in darkness but in broad daylight."

Killing Democracy—And Not Bothering to Hide It

The assault is happening in plain sight, from the Epstein case to Texas reapportionment to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

www.thebulwark.com

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 5

That’s interesting about TikTok. Whenever I see an explosion of AI content like that I always wonder if someone is trying to either manipulate a trending algorithm or, even more seriously, manipulate something like a stock market or other financial market.

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 4

Here’s the full post. Please read and share widely.

This is a fight we can’t afford to lose.

open.substack.com/pub/weaponiz...

Surviving the Tyranny of the Algorithm

A 10-point guide to taking back your reality.

open.substack.com

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 4

Algorithms are not inherently good or bad; they take on the properties of the code that humans write, but apply it at a scale that humans are not capable of.

We won’t win this game. And when we lose, the cost will be control over our own minds.

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 4

There are many ways to destroy a life. Being high on drugs is one way. Wasting your youth with your head plastered to a screen watching two minute video clips because that’s all your brain can process is another way to ruin a life. Please understand the gravity of this situation.

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 4

Algorithms serve up content you like b/c they know that’s how they can hook you and get you to keep clicking, keep scrolling, and keep making them more money. They’re like digital drug dealers — and I’d argue that the effects are more insidious and corrosive than actual drugs.

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 4

This is the first piece of advice I offer in the survival guide for resisting algorithmic tyranny. Until you learn the difference between entertainment and education vs covert psychological manipulation, you will remain a slave to the algorithm.

Learn the difference. Act on it.

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 4

To follow up on my recent article about Trump’s covert manipulation of the algorithms that curate our reality, I published a 10-step guide for resisting the tyranny of the algorithm.

You have a lot of power here, but you have to learn to use it.

weaponizedspaces.substack.com/p/surviving-...

Surviving the Tyranny of the Algorithm

A 10-point guide to taking back your reality.

weaponizedspaces.substack.com

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 1

👇A similar but related example of outsourcing the regime’s dirty work, much like the Trump administration is doing with algorithmic manipulation. Here, we see it being done with harassment of a private citizen.

bsky.app/profile/anna...

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · Aug 1

NEW: A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze federal funds.

Then the harassment began.

Pizzas sent to his home in the name of Judge Esther Salas’s murdered son, Daniel.

Six credible threats to his life.

More than 400 “vile” calls to his chambers—including this voicemail:

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 1

When governments can shape what you see w/out saying what they’ve done, democracy becomes a puppet show lit by a carefully engineered spotlight.

And if the algorithm is the gatekeeper, then who holds the keys?

Fight back. Starting now. Starting here. weaponizedspaces.substack.com/p/revealed-h...

REVEALED: How the Trump admin is covertly reconfiguring online algorithms

For the first time, here’s a look at the administration’s playbook for reverse algorithmic capture.

weaponizedspaces.substack.com

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 1

Let’s be clear: Reverse algorithmic capture isn’t a policy debate about platform bias. It’s a strategy designed & rolled out by the Trump admin to realign the rules of information visibility in favor of those in power, using regulatory levers to reprogram epistemic systems.

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 1

We are witnessing the emergence of a privatized information infrastructure that serves public ideological aims without invoking the First Amendment—or admitting the state’s hand. It’s being done by rebranding algorithmic power as populist reform.

Hi, Bannon.

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 1

In the name of fighting censorship, the Trump administration is shaping digital ecosystems to favor its preferred narratives while chilling dissent. It is a form of soft epistemic authoritarianism—and we all (I hope) know what comes next.

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 1

Interestingly (to me at least), this set of tactics actually mirrors in some ways a Russian disinfo tactic called reflexive control. Though there are some key differences, what Trump is doing is basically forcing platform decisions by manipulating the choice architecture.

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 1

That’s not even close to all of it. We have also seen companies like YouTube & Facebook respond to the Trump admin’s false claims of censorship by scrapping their own content moderation practices, which almost always benefits right wing media outlets & commentators.

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 1

In a new EO, Trump codified this process of reverse algorithmic capture by forcing any company that wants to do business now or in the future with the federal government to implement standards to reduce “bias“ — which includes not mentioning things like diversity and equity.

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 1

These algorithms are essentially unseen curators of reality. They decide what content you see or don’t see; what creators you see or don’t see; what ads you get served; what your Google results look like when you search for anything from restaurants to personal health questions.

Description of how algorithmic gatekeeping curates the content you see

A quote about algorithms as the unseen curators of reality

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 1

This practice of reverse algorithmic capture has already been written into policy and is affecting the algorithms that shape everything from search results to feed curation to ad targeting, to content moderation on platforms.

It’s affecting you. Probably more than you realize.

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 1

By engineering incentives that guide algorithms to amplify preferred narratives and suppress dissent, they don’t have to issue any direct orders. They can stay at a seemingly safe distance, maintaining possible deniability, all the while pulling the strings of public algorithms.

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Caroline Orr Bueno @rvawonk.bsky.social · Aug 1

Now, there’s no secret program or code that they’re using to do this. It’s being done through a process that I call reverse algorithmic capture.™

Instead of calling for censorship or bans directly, the Trump admin is reshaping the architecture of digital platforms in its favor.

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