• Sotuanduso@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    They’re not just “casually” stealing comments. They steal a random comment from the video, then have a bunch of other bots give it a bunch of thumbs up so that it appears towards the top and accumulates more upvotes than most human comments make. 95% of the time it seems, the real comment has one or two upvotes and is buried so far you have to scroll multiple pages to reach it.

    • 0laura@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 months ago

      I’ve also seen a comment where other bots argued with themselves in the replies and ended up recommending a scam.

      • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipOP
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        2 months ago

        I don’t often invest in a 401k but when I do I use shady services recommended to me by bots.

      • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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        2 months ago

        That’s usually about this Indian (or Pakistani?) guy I think about investments. I’ve even seen that one on Reddit.

    • smokebuddy [he/him]@lemmy.today
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      2 months ago

      it also makes it a lot harder for skeptics taking a look at their account to reveal they’re a bot. When every actual post is a clear copy and paste but the history is mixed with comments that seem legitimate it takes more digging that’s just not worth doing

      • Sotuanduso@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        I wouldn’t be surprised, but I’m not convinced downvoting comments has any effect on YouTube.