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Documenting cases of clear astroturfing by right wing shills, bots and bad faith actors posing as "centrists". In Australia, based on Australian politics.

[risingmoontide]

And the mask slips to expose more racism. See how predictable and asinine this behaviour is?

To see how this user spreads racism and misinformation, see my post here. https://www.tumblr.com/risingmoontide/819369891112108032/an-example-of-how-easy-it-is-to-manufacture?source=share

Reddit comment for reference: reddit.com/r/aussie/comments/1u5u1y6/comment/oro5iub/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[risingmoontide]

An example of how easy it is to manufacture xenophobic panic on Reddit

This relates to the subreddit r/Australia this time, although this user also posts routinely on other Australian subreddits. r/Australia is the largest Aus subreddit, with compromised moderators who allow racism against select groups. This bad faith actor takes real news, twists it, and manufactures a racist conspiracy theory to blame immigrants. User is u/dark-dark-dark.

https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/1u518om/early_childhood_educators_burnt_out_stretched_and/

Let's set aside the fact that recently, the men who were caught abusing children were Caucasian (see here, here). The ABC did run an investigation exposing how some fast-tracked childcare courses were being marketed as easy pathways to permanent residency for international students who were being pushed into centres with minimal oversight. It had absolutely nothing to do with "Indian IT workers."

ABC's Four Corners aired a separate, landmark investigation exposing how dark-web child predators were exploiting lax regulations to infiltrate Australian childcare centres. This was a systemic critique of background check loops and corporate negligence. The report did not blame or single out any specific nationality, nor did it mention Indian IT certificate holders.

This is where u/dark-dark-dark operates in pure bad faith. They took the word "visa" from the first story, the words "dark web predators" from the second story, and then invented a completely fake detail: "male Indians with IT certificates" to chain them together.

This is the modern blueprint for online xenophobia. Bad-faith actors don't always shout obvious slurs; instead, they build fake jigsaw puzzles out of real news headlines.

[risingmoontide]

And the mask slips to expose more racism. See how predictable and asinine this behaviour is?

reddit.com/r/aussie/comments/1u5u1y6/comment/oro5iub/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[risingmoontide]

An example of how easy it is to manufacture xenophobic panic on Reddit

This relates to the subreddit r/Australia this time, although this user also posts routinely on other Australian subreddits. r/Australia is the largest Aus subreddit, with compromised moderators who allow racism against select groups. This bad faith actor takes real news, twists it, and manufactures a racist conspiracy theory to blame immigrants. User is u/dark-dark-dark.

https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/1u518om/early_childhood_educators_burnt_out_stretched_and/

Let's set aside the fact that recently, the men who were caught abusing children were Caucasian (see here, here). The ABC did run an investigation exposing how some fast-tracked childcare courses were being marketed as easy pathways to permanent residency for international students who were being pushed into centres with minimal oversight. It had absolutely nothing to do with "Indian IT workers."

ABC's Four Corners aired a separate, landmark investigation exposing how dark-web child predators were exploiting lax regulations to infiltrate Australian childcare centres. This was a systemic critique of background check loops and corporate negligence. The report did not blame or single out any specific nationality, nor did it mention Indian IT certificate holders.

This is where u/dark-dark-dark operates in pure bad faith. They took the word "visa" from the first story, the words "dark web predators" from the second story, and then invented a completely fake detail: "male Indians with IT certificates" to chain them together.

This is the modern blueprint for online xenophobia. Bad-faith actors don't always shout obvious slurs; instead, they build fake jigsaw puzzles out of real news headlines.

[risingmoontide]

Pattern recognition of a far right Redditor posing as a 'centrist'

If you spend any time on Australian subreddits like r/aussie or r/AustralianPolitics, you've probably run into NoLeafClover777. On the surface, they position themselves as an everyday citizen just worried about housing, corporate greed, and wages. Accounts like this successfully weaponize the housing crisis and a genuine hatred for billionaire CEOs to smuggle a hard nationalist border policy into mainstream spaces. They get you angry, and then use that anger to make you vote against migration. It is highly effective, completely calculated, and the definition of a wolf in a "politically homeless" sheep's clothing.

Culture-War Outrage Farming

Accounts like this rely heavily on "dog-whistle" news articles to stir up tribalism and nationalist anxiety without having to explicitly state their own prejudices.

(The post itself drew significant skepticism and heavily contested voting ratios).

Running Defense for Coordinated Astroturfing

When a community starts noticing an influx of brand-new accounts or bots spamming anti-immigrant rhetoric, genuine users usually push for moderation. Bad-faith actors, however, will fiercely defend these accounts under the banner of "free speech."

The Left-Wing Shield (Economic Populism)

This is their primary weapon. To avoid being clocked as right-wing, they frame immigration entirely through the lens of class warfare, corporate greed, and billionaire exploitation. By using language that sounds inherently left-leaning, they get mainstream readers to nod along before slipping in the anti-immigration conclusion.

The "Politically Homeless" Centrist Routine

They start threads explicitly claiming to feel alienated by all major political parties. They mention voting for independent or minor environmental platforms (like the Sustainable Australia party) to look reasonable, neutral, and harmless.. Then they pull the rug.

Weaponizing Legitimate Political Cynicism

Instead of arguing from a place of prejudice, they point at broken pre-election promises regarding immigration numbers. This allows them to frame their anti-immigration stance as a completely rational, data-driven defence against political betrayal.

[risingmoontide]

Bad faith actors spreading dissent and far right views.

On the subreddit r/Aussie, topics on immigration, women's rights and ingenious Australians are common. But as of late, with the increased attention on far right political parties in Aus, several suspicious accounts have started appearing. Hidden post histories, weird usernames and using inflammatory responses.

Here's one such case: Danny_Metal. User profile is 7 years old, with very few comments and karma. User suddenly appeared on r/Aussie with this take:

/r/aussie/comments/1tj8nv8/comment/on0yh07/?screen_view_count=3

Who calls themselves a one of the good immigrants? And also calls for deportations, which would include him? Lack of self awareness and self contradiction aside, this is a very fake way of talking and classifying oneself. This reeks of astroturfing and larping. No person who's right in the head speaks like this unless they have an obvious agenda.

[risingmoontide]

Racist and Neo-Nazi posts spreading freely on Aussie subreddits

Since the far right , Trump wannabe party, One Nation started gaining some traction - mostly due to our cancerous media landscape and generous donations from Australian billionaire Gina Reinhart - there have been a large increase in the frequency of right wing posts on Aussie subs. Some are bots, some are bad faith actors.

[risingmoontide]

Australia's far right wing party, One Nation, started gaining a little bit of momentum because the existing right wing party, the Liberals, lost the last election and have been bleeding votes to ON.

ON is also being funded heavily by billionaire Gina Rinehart. Since then, on sites like FB and Reddit, there have been a flurry of bot activity, literally spreading white nationalist, Neo-Nazi, culture war rhetoric, who just happen to support ON talking points and policies. Here's one such example. Users 7978_ and KD--27 have been extremely active as of late z talking about the same right wing talking points, non-stop.

This is on r/Aussie right now. https://www.reddit.com/r/aussie/comments/1u1wjis/european_immigration/