Things are going from bad to worse for Disney and Lucasfilm over their latest Star Wars disaster in the making. As we reported over the weekend, the fan community reaction to The Acolyte trailer was almost uniformly savage and negative. So Disney allegedly started shenanigans.
There is a social media analyst out there on the internet who exposes how companies are using technology to bypass the more traditional methods of promoting their products online. He goes by the monicker Master Of The TDS.
A common tactic is that an automated army of “verified” blue check accounts suddenly appear to all support a certain product, or narrative. It shapes or steers the cultural mood while raising the profile of the product. It can drive it into trending territory, with the message the seller of the product would want, rather than the one it really has among potential customers.
So how can you tell? Well, at the end of the day they are just bots so their capabilities are a little limited right now… but see if you can spot the clues:
This is also not the first time that Disney content has been the beneficiary of positive buzz that, on examination, appears to be somewhat robotic in nature. It gets even worse, though.
Master of the TDS has previously produced evidence that bots were being deployed to create the appearance of fans who were “outraged” by Gina Carano’s internet comments that eventually led to her sacking by Lucasfilm.
If that is the case, then her in-flight court case against Disney could be about to get very, very interesting. Deploying a bot-army to undermine somebody’s career and support a decision to terminate? The compensation would be galactic, if proven.
What are the wider ramifications of this? Do these bots “belong” to Disney? Is a retained third-party providing this service? Or is it somebody else entirely?
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