I seriously suspect they’re a psyops to help dissipate people’s righteous anger - people are pissed of a something, sign a meaningless petition on something like change.org, get their “I’ve done something” psychological kick and, having satisfied their need to do something, don’t actually go ahead and do anything effective.

Defusing the anger against injustices of the very people who tend to be more aware of what’s going on and more concerned about it, before it turns into action or even causes civil society movements to rise from the bottom up, is a pretty useful mechanism for established powers in those countries which peddle the illusion of freedom to their citizenry.