The sockpuppets and bots had created the appearance of a popular consensus to which others began to adjust, altering what ideas were now viewed as acceptable to express. The repeated words and phrases soon spread beyond the fake accounts that had initially seeded them, becoming more frequent across the human users on each platform. The hateful fakes were mimicking real people, but then real people began to mimic the hateful fakes. This discovery carries implications that transcend any particular case or country. The way the internet affects its human users makes it hard enough for them to
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