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by panarky 1656 days ago
Just because Russia is a mafia state doesn't mean they're behind Facebook's payments initiatives.

To make this sound a bit less like mad conspiratorial ravings, could you flesh out how Whatsapp would allow Russian banks, government agencies, companies and oligarchs to move large quantities of money if they're disconnected from SWIFT?

For example, how would Russia get around the fact that Whatsapp is only offering this in the United States? How would Russians get fiat currency in and out? How would Russians circumvent the very low transaction limits?
1 comments
jd115 1656 days ago
Oh, but this isn't for the Russian people! It's for the so called "oligarchs" and their families who - surprise - don't actually live in Russia! They like America and western Europe much better.

And if you don't realise that Russian government / KGB is VERY MUCH behind Facebook and its initiatives, I'm afraid you have quite a bit of catching up to do.

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qeternity 1656 days ago
> And if you don't realise that Russian government / KGB is VERY MUCH behind Facebook and its initiatives, I'm afraid you have quite a bit of catching up to do.

Uh, I have to say, this is a new one for me. What's the theory here?

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vineyardmike 1655 days ago
In real news, Russia (the gov, and affiliates) has made lots of popular fb groups/accounts/pages to attract american attention and spread misinformation.

There have been reports on everything from "Christians for trump" groups to "abortions are a human right" groups. These accounts were used to spread disagreement and angst across the population. they even pit groups they owned against each other IRL [1]...

No evidence that russians were part of facebook but rather that they took advantage of the anonymity of the internet to pretend to be american and cause political divide (esp. during election times).

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-trolls-senate-intelli...

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qeternity 1655 days ago
Oh Russian troll farms pushing propaganda? I think that’s pretty much fact at this point.

A far cry from what it seemed was being insinuated, as if the Kremlin had something to do with Facebook’s success.

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panarky 1655 days ago
> "oligarchs" and their families who - surprise - don't actually live in Russia!

How would Whatsapp's service with a $300 maximum transaction limit, that's only available in the US, allow them to evade a hypothetical disconnection of Russian banks from SWIFT?

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