We’re witnessing a troll tsunami on Twitter right now. #CoupTruxKlan was #InfoOps & IMO the troll networks developed leading up to that operation have been continuously amassing real world anti-vaxxers in order to weaponize them. I also believe there are simultaneous parallel ops
The troll swarming I’ve experienced the past few days, for calling out one of these networks, just underscores for me that @TwitterSafety needs to address this incredibly serious problem. I’m attaching a snapshot of just a fraction of the troll accounts in a couple of networks.
Take this account, for example. It tweets anti-Trudeau propaganda especially the likes of #TrueNorthCentre. The profile was lifted from a soft core site.
The account start date is 2012, however (see next tweet) this was an abandoned account taken over & used for disinfo #cdnpoli
The hijacked version didn’t start tweeting until 2022-07-29. The abandoned account belonged to a now defunct company called Northern Recon that sold airsoft (pellet) guns & equipment. #cdnpoli #NeverVoteConservative
This fake uses a stock image & tweets pro #NevrePoilievre, anti-Trudeau & anti-vax disinfo. #cdnpoli #TrollFactories
An endless sea of inauthentic activity, designed to amplify narratives to drown truth, destabilize 🇨🇦 & bring down the government. #cdnpoli #NeverVoteConservative #NevrePoilievre
Operations like these are happening in democracies around the world. These are malign influence operations hitting on multiple fronts simultaneously. Co-opting anti-vaxxers was the “in” operations like these, dream of. theguardian.com/commentisfree/… #cdnpoli #NevrePoilievre
I came across a sea of accounts that began in February. Right in #FluTruxKlan season. #cdnpoli
Adding to the 🧵. Another account in the network I got swarmed by. (On the plus side, @Twitter appears to have removed about 200 accounts in this network). I include this one to demonstrate the complexity of the problem. This account uses a GAN profile pic (fake AI generated).
The account attempted to help dox @merry123459 (& failed). While the account began in 2013, all tweets have been scrubbed between Aug 4/2013 & Nov 25/2019. He tweets pro-gun/anti-vax/anti-Trudeau/alt.right groiper type propaganda. Ironically, it’s likely attached to a real guy…
A real guy who operates as a troll & can be artificially amplified.
So when accounts tweet “not a bot”, it is deeply misleading & threat actors play on this to push a narrative that a malign influence operation is authentic or “grassroots”, when it is forged & driven by #InfoOps
Another account. This one is a fake/sock-puppet. The account began in 2015 & was likely an abandoned account taken over. All previous tweets have been scrubbed & the account was re-activated in February (2022-02-22) - coincidentally (😏) during the #FluTruxKlan op. #cdnpoli
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