It’s been known that Russia’s been highly active doing that for at least a decade if not more. Social media is one of the best delivery vehicles for misinformation ever invented. Posts aren’t re shared or boosted based on facts or correctness. But rather how people feel about it. Tell a bigot that people they hate are doing something bad. AND THEY WILL SHARE IT EVERYWHERE.
And it’s not just them. Look around for those using the term “blue maga”. Its a nonsense rhetoric phrase constantly disingenuously thrown at people calling for solidarity against fascists. How is solidarity against fascists anything like maga? Not even the people using the term can give you an adequate explanation. But that’s not the point of it anyhow. It’s all about derailing good faith discussion and poisoning the well to deter any possible future discussion with the baseless association.
A few things. Communism isn’t Marxist leninism. Communism isn’t authoritarian. And it’s not just Stalin and Mao. It’s literally everywhere Marxist leninism has ever been attempted. Communism is a classless stateless society. Therefore a Marxist leninist government will never become communist. Because they are defined by their class separation of those with political power and those without, and the strong overbearing presence of the state.
There’s nothing objectionable to Communism whatsoever. And no one should have any qualms about defending it ever. What we should question is why one group of authoritarians the Marxist leninist desire to be so closely tied to it. And another group of authoritarians the capitalists demand everyone be afraid of it.