The Troll War in 2020: Misinformation at Home But Mostly Abroad (Part 3)

Part 3: Mr. International vs. Bloomberg QuickTake 

Relaxing from an evening of March 2020 aftershocks with yet another cup of coffee and a healthy dose of pump inhibitors to suppress this stupid Covid-19, I settled into the couch, propped my feet up and sighed. It was at this point that I happened upon a weird post from a site with which I wasn't familiar, about robots. I'd been scrolling down my news feed on Facebook, soaking in the latest info. But, what was this Bloomberg QuickTake, anyway? 

Going on Bloomberg was odd. For starters, not one poster was from the US. Yep, none. There were, however, a lot of posts about robots and lasers, and robots with AI rolling around emergency rooms administering medication to Covid-19 patients in Munich, Germany. (Bonus: the virus has its own playlist!) Am I watching TRON-meets-ER on here? So, as one can imagine, on this particular page the disdain for our current President was rather high. 

The other thing I noticed from the jump was that on every post I saw, the first poster was always from China. No matter what Covid-19 story was being shared, the first comment had an anti-American sentiment. So for a few hours, I studied these profiles from which these initial incendiary posts originated. And what I realized in a very short time was that the only time these posters would ever engage is when their views were questioned. 

So, after a few hours of investigating and a few cups of vanilla instant coffee I thought, hey, why not, and fired the first shot, tagging a troll on a post about the virus' impact in northern Italy. "______ is a troll bot," I said. Within seconds, I received a response to my post. "Your stupid American," it read. I was onto something, perhaps. So, I pressed on. "You need to use spell check," I replied. It was a fair enough reply on my end, you know. As a writer, I care about the proper use of grammar. 

Within a minute, I apparently opened Pandora's Box, because this person who I can only assume has a deep hatred towards me or anyone like me, fired back. "You Americans always are rude and inconsiderate bt you will learn the hard way soon," he added. Now normally, in my line of work, that's a threat. So would this be an act of misinformation war on his part? Or, because he kept the letter U out of his "but," would his threat pass the Facebook police? 

Keep in mind that in this strange world of social media, anything you say is fair game--except profanity. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made this clear--no matter what is said. Which is why the person's next comment on Bloomberg took me aback. "You are a bloody w@nker," the comment continued, taking care not to actually swear. Bloody wanker? Who says THAT in China?!? Also, the poster's first name--or Jon--came off as odd. 

"I like your pictures," I added in my next comment which I tagged. I mean, these photos of tanks and rockets were cool! Shiny and silver. To which he replied, "You are very stupid." I said, "Thanks bt we onto you, man," deciding to up the ante on someone that I can only assume is sitting behind a laptop in some low-level military intel job in the middle of BFE, China--AND yes, I did leave the U out of my "but," thanks for asking. Or, maybe he's in Australia--with a comment about my being a bloody wanker. I don't know. And then, like magic, Jon the troll’s post just poof!--disappeared. So did mine. Say what? 

On a personal level, it freaked me out a little. On the next post, it became even more frightening. A different story on Bloomberg talked about America having a new Covid-19 vaccine candidate. But, this next troll, she took her post to the HNL (that's 'ho nutha levuh'), talking about scores of US casualties to come in her comment. Along with the usual pro-China sentiment, the poster was actually using statistical prediction in her posts--even more troubling was that it was accurate to what we're seeing now. 

But, when I trolled her back, using the same "_____ is a troll bot," which by the way is now my unofficial tagline, thanks and you're welcome, several odd things happened. First, she--assuming the troll was a she and not some Lieutenant Inspector General for Foreign Affairs, for heck sakes--catalogued my post with my full name (first, middle, and last) and a date and time line in her reply, which appeared within seconds. 

Second, a post I'd shared and placed on my personal Facebook page was heretofore wiped out and her post--like the first troll's--also disappeared within seconds. Talk about odd. At that point, I figured I was onto something heavy. I was really just out for a few tidbits on a weekend, jeez--not spy games. I felt like saying something to my son who was playing Fortnite mere feet from me, but I didn't want him going to bed having nightmares like I would be. 

So I decided on something more national that I thought would be a bit more light after listening to Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" six times in a row on my Spotify "Summer of Love" playlist just to calm the freak down--because after all, I was a bit spooked here. Next time, maybe I'll try going to battle with kinder, gentler folk because as I discovered, going into a world war on the Internet can be a little harrowing from your living room even though there's cool lasers and shiny robots with fake big brains and all that shit.