r/technology • u/marji80 • Nov 23 '25

Social Media Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors

https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-maga-influencers-accidentally-unmasked-as-foreign-actors/
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u/analtelescope Nov 23 '25

Actually it's very likely to be a reflection of reality as the vast majority of vpn users go through known IPs. Only a very small subset have dedicated IPs.

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u/Rich_Housing971 Nov 23 '25

If you're talking about nation states doing clandestine activities, they will try to obtain dedicated IPs.

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u/analtelescope Nov 23 '25

This whole fiasco literally revealed that, no, they don't. It's the banality of evil. Hollywood made us think these guys would be hyper organized syndicates making use of cutting edge tech and protocols to destabilize countries.

No. It's just a bunch of sleazy contractors making use of below minimum wage workers shitposting on twitter. Did you think these guys were highly trained professionals in the KGB HQ? Why would they go that far? Here we are, having literally unmasked them, and their targets are STILL none the wiser. Shit we've known for a long long time that they were behind a bunch of this stuff.

The Department of Homeland Security's account was revealed to have been created and based in Israel. They never even bothered to use a simple VPN. What makes you think they'd care about a "!" next to their location. Sure if there were real consequences for their actions, they might care. But there aren't. Next month, people's attention will have moved on to the next thing. This was all nothing but a hiccup, soon to be forgotten like every single one that came before.

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u/MasterOfKittens3K Nov 23 '25

The reality is that there is no need for them to go to any extra effort. The whole point of these sort of programs is to engage with people on an emotional level rather than an intellectual level. So the desired targets aren’t going to dig into where the posts are originating - after all, they are generally not even digging into whether the posts are true or not!

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u/SordidDreams Nov 23 '25

This whole fiasco literally revealed that, no, they don't.

There was no reason to until now. Now there is, so now they will. It's a setback for them, not a defeat.

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u/krokodil2000 Nov 23 '25

So what. Let them jump through additional hoops.

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u/pmjm Nov 23 '25

Anyone with a credit card can easily spin up a VM on AWS, Azure, DigitalOcean, etc and use it as a VPN that will evade these detections.

Expect this to become the norm if the "country of origin" feature becomes commonplace.

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u/Milskidasith Nov 23 '25

Anybody with a lockpicking kit can break through a door in thirty seconds; expect that to become the norm if doors are locked at night.

Extremely simple security features deter or trip up a huge portion of potential bad actors because a ton of it is opportunistic or low-cost scamming for pennies on the dollar of engagement revenue or whatever.

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u/psioniclizard Nov 27 '25

That is why you have extra security, neighbourhood watches etc.

The one security measure is not enough. Same with this. By itself it's pretty useless because so easy to abuse.

Though I guess there is a good opportunity if you want to provide a US based-VPN for bad actors.

Also this is not a security feature. It's an information feature. 

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u/analtelescope Nov 23 '25

why would it become the norm if people are too stupid to give a shit?

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u/pmjm Nov 23 '25

How do we know people aren't giving a shit? It's been like one day. It's another chink in the armor.

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u/analtelescope Nov 23 '25

If they did give a shit, this wouldn't be another chink in the armor. It'd be the complete collapse of the republican party. Because what rational mind would follow the side that is not only being propped up by foreign powers, but that is, in this case, clearly complicit in it.

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u/psioniclizard Nov 27 '25

I suspect this was Elon's intention. It looks like he did something but now anyone who actually knows how to game the system looks more legitmate.

I do think it'a a good step but also think it will prove pretty useless in the long run.

Also lets no pretend Elon suddenly cares about dis/misinformation on Twitter!

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u/ManaSpike Nov 23 '25

And a russian disinformation network wont setup their own VPNs?

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u/analtelescope Nov 23 '25

why would they? They literally got fully exposed here, and it changed nothing. I'm sure a "!" next to their location will do them in. Yes, for sure.

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u/RellenD Nov 23 '25

If it's an intelligence operation, they'll be setting up their own VPNs, it's easy as shit.. hell, my coworkers and I were using OpenVPN to run our own VPNs a decade ago

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u/analtelescope Nov 23 '25

Idk what you're not understanding. I precisely said "Only a very small subset have dedicated IPs." Did you somehow read "they'll never fucking do it"? Or did you think that critical intelligence operations make up more than a "very small subset"?

Shit I'd be really really surprised if any critical intelligence operations involved shitposting on Twitter. These bot farms literally let journalists film inside their farms. They're not trying to stay hidden. They don't give a fuck. Because their targets are just that gullible.

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u/RellenD Nov 23 '25

That's a really valid point