Thread by @marcowenjones

Thread 1/ This is a thread on pro-Russian propaganda & #disinformation. I analysed the hashtags "i stand with Putin" & "i stand with Russia'. I analysed around 20,000 Twitter interactions involving 9600 unique accounts

Bots ✔️
Engagement Farming ✔️

#UkraineRussianWar
#Ukraine

2/ The network graph shows Twitter accounts interacting. The nodes represent individual accounts, the lines between them tweets, RTs replies etc. Different colours are different communities (accounts that tend to interact with one another more) #UkraineRussiaWar #Ukraine

3/ Below. You can see three distinct clusters.
Cluster 1 (left) accounts that seem to support the hashtag (pro Putin and Russia)
Cluster 2 (middle) = accounts criticising the hashtag
Cluster 3 (bottom) = accounts and bots spamming hashtag and thus boosting it
#UkraineRussianWar

4/ The bot type cluster (cluster 3) seem to be accounts offering products, laptops etc, jumping on the hashtag to promote their wares. Most of them seem to be connected to Kenya, including this Kenyan opposition account. Of course, their tweets boost the trend
#UkraineRussianWar

5/ Cluster 2, the anti Putin accounts, are very active, and very large. These are people, like @NickKnudsenUS and @PalmerReport who are condemning the hashtag. This is well meaning of course, but boosts the hashtag, which many would consider a bad thing
#UkraineRussianWar

6/ Then we have cluster 1, the people seemingly supporting putin, russia and war. Some of the most retweeted accounts on this hashtag include @sachin012yadav , a pro-Modi account - only 56 followers and around 260 tweets, despite an old account from 2015 . Profile pic seems

7/ to lead to some website offering tutors. Another popular tweet is the account based out of Pakistan posting a video of Trump defending Putin through whataboutism. It's ok though, this guy's a Capricorn... 🙄

#UkraineRussianWar

8/ One of the most popular retweets below is from an account that appears to use a stock image as a profile picture. It also is a 7year old account with less than 200 tweets, but somehow the tweet has thousands of tweets + likes.
#UkraineRussiaWar

9/ Most of the account that report their own location data (obviously can't be construed as accurate - but is interesting), say they are based in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, India and the US. This locational information is interesting as most of the tweets use same tropes

10/ Many of the tropes focus on whataboutism and have been inspired by Western media racism. There is emphasis on Western hypocrisy and double standards, and racism. Not sure why that makes it ok for Russia to invade Ukraine and to stand with Putin...
#UkraineRussianWar

11/ There are a few common engagement techniques, presumably designed to drive traffic on the hashtag. A lot of these tweets asking you to RT or like depending on whether you support Russia or Ukraine appear to be very popular
#UkraineRussianWar
#disinformation

12/ There are lots of other red flags too, such as a disproportionately large number of accounts created in the past few weeks. Some of these accounts, while barely a day old, have crazy high engagement rates too. Check out MANIKAN00673636 for example. #UkraineRussiaWar

13/ A note re whataboutism. Many of the tropes create the straw man that 'No one condemns West when they do this, so why condemn Russia'. While there is an underlying truth, it is also extreme hyperbole, designed to deflect attention from Russia's current invasion to the West's

14/ past behaviour. While future media analyses will be telling, at the moment it just serves to remove sympathy from Ukrainians by painting them as part of a racist and hypocritical Western establishment. I doubt dead civilians the world over will enjoy being used this way

15/ anyway, that's it for now. To sum up. There are bots, spam and what appears to be lots of inauthentic behaviour driving the 'i stand with putin' and 'i stand with russia' hashtag. Of course there are real people in there too, not least those condemning the hashtag. #Ukraine

16/ One of the dominant themes of the hashtag appears to be polarization/adversarial: exploiting incidences of racism and western bias to try and undermine sympathy for Ukrainians, and thus paint Putin as somehow standing up to the West #UkraineRussiaWar #disinformation

17/ For those asking - I used @nodexl to import tweets, Gephi for the network graph, and tableau for the timelines

18> Update on findings

19/ Just to be clear. The main clusters don't look like bots.The Kenyan cluster and cluster I mention in the update do look automated. Many of the rest look suspicious, like troll or astroturfing accounts, though I'm aware people use the term bots as shorthand for 'dodgy account'

20/ Another update. This thread is a detailed dive into just one of the accounts spreading the propaganda. Enjoy!

21/ Here's another update on this thread. Summary: Twitter suspended some, but not all of the bots, and there is proof.