Thread by @benimmo

Thread: @Facebook just published an update on the accounts it took down last week, after an FBI tip-off.

@DFRLab has been digging into them all week.

Attribution is not confirmed, but their behaviour resembled the Russian troll factory.

newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/11/l…

Main points:

- divisive, hyper-partisan content;
- some recycling of known Russian troll content;
- looks like an early-stage operation, still focused on building audience;
- a lot of focus on celebrities.

medium.com/dfrlab/trolltr…

Example of content recycling: this meme was posted by suspect account not_your_negro.

It's watermarked to known IRA account woke_blacks_, and the same image was posted by another IRA account, afrokingdom_.

(H/t the @UsHadrons archive)

Another example. Left, content from suspect account 4merican.m4de (named very like an earlier IRA account, _AmericanMade).

Right, content from American.Veterans.

Here's anonymous.speak. The post isn't attributed, but the opening came from Sputnik.

Note the grammatical error, too. "Have a courage to tell people."

Confusion over "the" and "a" has betrayed Russian trolls before now.

There's the same grammatical error here.

"Keep up a great work"?

Native speakers make many, many errors online. But mixing up "the" and "a" is unusual.

Most of the content on the Instagram pages was heavy on memes, light on language, perhaps to avoid language slips.

It was also bitterly divisive.

Equating Christianity with child abuse, for example.

This wasn't about promoting policies, it was about promoting division.

Here are two suspected trolls, on gun control and feminism.

Same issue, same cluster of inauthentic accounts, opposite sides.

Abortion. Again, opposite sides.

Anyone who says, "Who cares if Russia interfered? They're on my side," needs a reality check.

The trolls even used @kanyewest for their operation. Here's the suspect accounts' take on Democrats...

... and here's one of the suspect trolls sharing @BuzzFeedNews, after he tweeted that he realised he'd been used for political gain.

Yes. And not just in America.

Unlike other operations we've seen, this one had a real focus on celebrities, personalities and pundits, on both sides of the political gulf.

Probably an audience building technique; it also allowed them to pivot more easily from one hot issue to another.

Matching the focus on audience building, a lot of the accounts posted primarily clickbait content, such as this, @girlsbeerguns.

(The account featured lots of girls and guns, but no beer images we found. Presumably, you had to bring your own.)

A lot of this content was positive or innocuous, even patriotic.

We saw that pattern before, in the original troll factory. Remember @TEN_GOP and its ilk?

medium.com/dfrlab/how-a-r…

Again, there was no underlying morality or value system here.

"Nudity is not necessary to show beauty" meets "luscious conservative girls."

Once more: this wasn't about supporting anyone, it was about dividing everyone.

Some of the time, these accounts amplified American polarising voices.

One of their favourite sources was Turning Point USA; the same meme was used here by both 4merican.m4de and against_libtards_.

Is it worrying that troll accounts in a foreign country still find that one good way of getting divisive messages across is to amplify American voices?

Yes, it is.

And, yet again, this was not about "they're on my side".

They pushed both sides, to push both sides further apart.

Upsum: they shared IRA content and IRA language errors.
They posted divisive content.
They were still building the operation.

They were taken down early, which is good.

But the vulnerabilities they targeted are still there. That's the next challenge.

Thread ends.