Russian bots are just for rigging US elections? They hit home, too: Kid stripped of crown in TV contest vote-fix scandal The winner of a Russian talent show for children has been stripped of her crown following confirmation that software was used to swing a public vote in her favor. There was a national outcry when 11-year-old Mikella Abramova won the top telly talent show The Voice Kids with 56.5 per cent of a public poll, bagging over 30,000 …
Sad but true that Russia has a corruption problem, always has had, and always will have.
Nevertheless, a good article, you just missed a couple of related news points; until this voting scandal kicked off, Alsou was supposed to present the results of the Russian jury & people's vote on Saturday's Tel Aviv song-fest for Channel One (UK Katy Boyle's job in the past), I think you can see why Channel One has suspended connections with the glamorous Алсу Рали́фовна Абрамова-Сафина.. . voting, bots, hmmm at least this time there is evidence
and you missed the trivial fact that not only is she married to an 'illionaire, but Alsou's dad is also an 'illionaire
"Sad but true that Russia has a corruption problem, always has had, and always will have."
So you're saying this is somehow more reprehensible than a another large country that allows lobbyists paid by large companies to push fat brown envelopes in the general direction of politicians and government officials?
Yes, communist regimes do have a corruption problem - but at least they do deal with the problem in a significant manner when it becomes a major public issue.
But, but, but, "You are are lynching Negroes!". /s
we're talking about Russia, saying "but they do it too" is immature to the point that 6 year olds in a sandpit would call you out on it
we're talking about Russia, saying "but they do it too" is immature to the point that 6 year olds in a sandpit would call you out on it
Saying 'I am a Patriot: You are a Spy is far more bankrupt, particularly since it gives one leave to carry on being a scoundrel as one piously rolls one's eyes at foreign miscreants.
That depends wholly on one's interpretation of where the accent was meant to sit in the OP. If read as "a corruption problem of Russia", you're quite right, who else does what is irrelevant. If read "a corruption problem of Russia" then you're not, and "whataboutism" is irrelevant when asking "why, what about corruption do you think is so specific to Russia?"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
"When criticisms were leveled at the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the Soviet response would often be "What about..." followed by an event in the Western world."
"But they do it too!" seems a traditional Russian response here....
Russia had a corruption problem under the tsars as well, which was the original point. Russia existed for much longer prior to communism than it did under it. If all you know about Russia is 'communism' can I suggest you read some history, or some Russian literature. I'm rather fond of Dostoevsky myself but your mileage may vary. If you have the eyes to see you will find in Chekov as well.
Ivan the Terrible's moves against the Boyars was for similar reasons.
Note it wasn't much worse than this country where the well off routinely bought military and naval commissions for their younger spawn. Hence the phrase Lions Led By Donkeys.
For corruption under communism try Bulgakov's masterpiece The Master And Margarita (it is highly satirical) and Cancer Ward by Solzhenitsyn. My personal copy of the latter is falling apart through repeated rereadings. I think I bought it back in the early '80s. I have a hardback version of the Bulgakov to try and fend off that fate for a bit longer. I reread my Dostoevsky's regularly as well.
So Channel One does not want to hold the kid responsible, but will it hold the kid's parents responsible?
If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is not very likely to be a dolphin impersonating a duck.
It's not like rich parents "buying" contest wins for their offspring is unheard of...
Well they could start by not registering multiple votes from the same number...
They would have to avoid the moral hazard inherent in profit sharing in the premium rate text voting that I assume is part of the economics of these shows in Russia as in the rest of the world.
Far better to just accept that these types of show are light entertainment scripted reality with a similar relationship to truth and competition as pro wrestling and watch them if you enjoy them on that basis or not if you don't. A take-down of the sort of cheating effort alleged is only of any interest in the context of the corrosive impact of similar corruption in wider civil society.
I was looking at the same numbers and thinking - stripping her of the win is a bit unfair - she would have won anyway and its unlikely the kid herself was the one responsible.
Seeing that they are going to re-host the final does seem to be a fair way to approach it. I'd just discount the spurious votes myself, but I guess if you have that many people ringing premium phone numbers just to vote, it might be a good earner for the company...
...we are sure that the company didn't arrange this, right?
yeah, what is more likely, a public company risking a massive PR blow-back for comparatively few cents or an entitled parent of an entitled kid buying her an ensured win
gee, I don't know /s
that kid likely gets more pocket money than the average russian earns in a year, she'll be fine and that has a chance to be a valuable learning experience for her
A b2b telecom software firm I used to work for was approached by the manager of a singer whose career was failing but was in the final of a UK singing competition hoping to relaunch his career.
He offered us lots of cash to make many thousands of calls to a UK premium rate number.
We originally declined before we found out who it was for, thinking it was a betting scam. It was only later we found out it was just rigging the winner of a singing competition.
Anyway, they presumably found somebody else because that singer (who wasn't the favourite), won that competition.
“Vault7” tells you the truth about who’s behind those “North Korea hacked this”, “Iran hacked that”, “the Russians manipulated those” – attacks:
https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1/
Assange is a reporter, unlike the people reporting propaganda (knowing very well that it’s a scam).
While C Manning pulled a treasure trove of documentation out of the US military communications systems and dumped them on the world stage through wikileaks, and may well have done some good in the process, there was definitely damage done as well.
That said, very few have the intelligence, logic and reasoning skills to dig through that pile of raw data (which is what it is) and turn out a comprehensive review that turns it into information.
Also, Assange is STILL a motherfucking bellend.
A crooked tv muzak competition and a large portion of the comments have extrapolated out to the relative probity of whole nations and is Assange a goodie or a baddy? What next, a Brexit tie in?
I'd be very surprised if there is anyone out there with ACTUAL real-life experience of music competitions who doesn't know that they're very often fixed, regardless of location.
All the while, it seems that no-one even notices the music, which in typically modern fashion the world over mangles a good song by turning every single note into five different ones just to show that the singer can do it. The vocal equivalent of modern rock guitar playing, where insanely fast fret widdling is used to cover up the fact that there's no actual music happening.
Sad to say, as AC below here states, "the kid can sing", shame about the bloody awful direction she's been given, and yes, mortifying for almost any child.
> ... mangles a good song by turning every single note into five different ones just to show that the singer can do it.
Yeah, I must admit, that boils my blood as well.
Put it in the same camp as extreme vibrato to hide the singer's complete inability to hold a note in tune.
It's why I can't stand opera.
I feel sorry for her if her results were manipulated, particularly if it was likely she would have won anyway (the article is not clear if the 8000 votes was all the fraudulent votes or not).
As others have said, it was probably a betting fraud issue, or possibly a stupid A&R effort.
Anyway, I suspect it has been mortifying for the poor kid, and I'm a little disappointed in the comments showing absolutely no empathy for her whatsoever
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