Borderland
Beat by DD Republished from Telesur
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| An example of the #YaMeCanse campaign by Mexican actors and artists, criticizing government poor performance. (Photo: Yamecanse.mx) |
Internet users have switched to
#YaMeCanse2 after the #YaMeCanse hashtag, used since protests agaist government
corruption and forced disappearences errupted, has disappeared. The Mexican
government uses automated online softwards to detect criticism.
Over the past month top-trending
hashtag #YaMeCanse has been used in all anti-government protests, but its
sudden disappearence from the web, possibly due to government “bots” has seen
the emergence of #YaMeCanse2.
The hashtag was trending for 26 days
until, it suddenly disappeared, despite the fact it is still being widely used.
The fall was so unexpected — it had stayed in first place for weeks, and
suddenly it was gone — that it immediately raised some suspicions as to whether
it had been purposefully removed.
Internet forums and technology sites drew attention to what are known as “peñabots,” an army of false Twitter and Facebook accounts, created specifically to confront criticism toward President Enrique Peña Nieto and his government The mechanism, allegedly funded by the ruling Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI), is being used to battle social network protests, as well as create a false impression of the president’s popularity.
Peña Nieto is currently the least popular president in Mexican history, with a 39 percent approval rating, according to a poll in the Reforma newspaper.
After 26 days of being unable to counter the widespread use of #YaMeCanse hashtag (“I’m tired of corruption”, “I’m tired of impunity”, “I’m tired of lies” being some of the most common messages), the bots, short for robots, and those who manage them, were forced to implement a new strategy.
Many who attempt to supress hashtags simply create a new one and attempt to make it more popular than the other. But in the case of the hugely popular #YaMecanse, it has been modified to pass as spam, by repeating it nonsensically.
Twitter analysis tools detected the behavior of the hashtag and assessed the change was not part of the conversation among users, but some artificially-manipulated spam, an unrequested malignant content.
The social media site then erased it from its lists of trending hashtags, to the dismay of the more than four million users making use of the phrase to express their criticism of the government.
Publicist Jesus Soto, researcher of what he calls “Techno authoritarianism,” described the phenomenon:
“There’s something very important being contested at social networks: a communication space, important because it can affect and transform politics … The political group in power in Mexico has no ethical conflict on using dishonest and deceitful resources to manipulate public perception.”
Unsurprisingly, the same disgruntled users that took the first hashtag to the top ten of social network communications on past weeks started using #YaMeCanse2, which quickly got to the first trending spot.
The hashtag was taken from the controversial comment, “I’ve had enough, I’m tired” by General Attorney Jesus Murillo Karam, when trying to avoid further questions from journalists about the 43 missing Ayotzinapa students.
Mexican Twitter users took the phrase and used
it on social networks it to show their disapproval of government’s handling of
the crisis, and the rampant corruption and impunity of the political class
Haha! Peñabots. It's too late, something's gonna give. I doubt he makes the sexenio.
ReplyDeleteI am still worried about the 5000 I cannot find my nephew he was taken a year ago no call no body
ReplyDeleteSicario? sicarios disappear very often! they kill each others for territorial ground is not a new thing! also persons that do deals with drug cartels the not so "innocent" they get wackd too, thats what they get for dealing with the devil.
DeleteWe gotta say that not all those 5000 were innocents. Maybe.maybe.. halff?
And let's not forget the young people that were shot at point blank by Mexican soldiers at that empty warehouse just recently.
ReplyDeleteKe pendejos son estos es demas no se puede con la gente babosa. estos mexicanos estan bien babosos. se kejan cuando los de el gobierno no hacen el trabajo. y cuando si lo hacen se kejan tambien. esas eran unas ratas maleantes ke ya abian empesado con su carrera de delicuencia asi empiesan todas esas ratas y luego terminan siendo capos con miles de sicarios a su mando listos para joder a cualkiera incluyendo a innocentes. no por nada estan como estan. ke gente mas babosa esa
Delete#yamecanse #yamevoyadormir
ReplyDeleteGovernments TRUE colours are starting to show.They are showing their guilt and they don't even realize it, they are so out of touch with the people.
ReplyDeleteThe Mexican marines do that very often if they catch them sometimes arrest them at times they just execute them because they know they might go out free or if it was the other way around the sicarios won't have mercy on them That is not the only case were the Mexican military does that ...it's a clean up
ReplyDeleteLa ley del el animal el malo mata al bueno para vengarse. asi es ke al bueno no le keda de otra ke matar al malo para defenderse ellos tienen ke proteger a sus familias. y sin ley pues
Delete1:18 maybe half, maybe more than half, maybe none, whatever...
ReplyDelete--But all the mexican government is rotten to the core, has no redeeming qualities, and keeps feeding us bullshit, from behind their american or french trained sicarios armed with their war weapons supplied by the US who also gives official sovereign impunity to its corrupt murdering mexican government friends...
So much for freedom of expression, they are locating those critical of pena nieto and his cabinet of "41s", la bola de jotos de la cofradia de la mano caida,(the bunch of homos that belong to the cofrady of the limp wrist) with the DF penguin, at the front of the gay parade, el pinguino del DF, emilio chuayffet, aka "no body, no crime", disappear the 'evidenceeee', let them take me to court...
ReplyDelete--How is el motherfucker pena nieto going to censure the internet on other countries? Are we going to have to expropriate the internet?
--mexico has too many people with no phone and no internet, otherwise it would be worse for the penanietistas and co.
The mexican public has never needed or required its armed forces to commit crimes in their name or on behalf of themselves...
ReplyDelete--it has always been on behalf of the politicians and at their request, usually on behalf of foreign plenipotentates from the US...
--It is against the law to use the mexican military to fight against the mexican citizens, but the government officials know the US will come through for them with impunity when needed, that is why calderon fecal and ernesto zedillo's jundillio live the great life on the US as professor of "professors of universities"...
--The Tlatlaya murders are without justification, and easy to prove, what will be harder will be to prove who sent the mexican soldiers to do that massacre, but the buck stops right at the commander in chief, nobody can refuse to accept their responsibility when the mexican military commits crimes, That is why they use paramilitary forces, to make it harder to prove their crimes and culpability
Govt bots, All forms of 'protest', I am sure will be "cleaned up', by EPN. He just doesn't like people talking junk about him, his government, he must have gotten picked on in middle school!
ReplyDelete