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Good morning everyone!
Today, we're releasing our latest study: "How you thought you support the animals and you ended up funding white supremacists"
Get ready for a long thread!
Today, we're releasing our latest study: "How you thought you support the animals and you ended up funding white supremacists"
Get ready for a long thread!
How did everything start?
On the 27th July, the fact-checking team of the French news agency AFP @AfpFactuel published a tweet on a story which falsely attributed the death of an Italian policeman to “Two African migrants” when in fact the culprits were American tourists.
On the 27th July, the fact-checking team of the French news agency AFP @AfpFactuel published a tweet on a story which falsely attributed the death of an Italian policeman to “Two African migrants” when in fact the culprits were American tourists.
The publication was posted on the Facebook page named “I support the police” sharing an unknown domain.
This triggered our interest on this Facebook page which was publishing disinformation online.
This triggered our interest on this Facebook page which was publishing disinformation online.
In cooperation with French media @lemondefr, the EU DisinfoLab helped expose a French white supremacist network that uses deceptive Facebook pages to attract visitors on their website and generate revenue from online advertisements.
We focused only on their disinformation tactics and our summary and study are available here:
disinfo.eu/2019/09/11/sua…
disinfo.eu/2019/09/11/sua…
If you want to know more about how Suavelos registered their "non-profit" through a public mailbox service for homeless people in @VilleGrenoble, @AdrienSnk has all the details here:
lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/…?
lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/…?
We uncovered a network of at least 16 Facebook pages, 7 YouTube channels, 5 Telegram channels and Twitter accounts hiding their white nationalist/white supremacist and racist views behind misleading names.
This goes from supporting animals that are hurt by multiculturalism...
...to ending violence against (white) women...
...to claims to support civil servants such as policemen, firefighters, military forces, healthcare workers...
... to expressing pride in being French or to "defending France"...
...or, quite simply, encouraging others to like "occidental beauties".
Through publications and a HUGE help from Facebook algorithmic recommendations, the total fan base of these 16 facebook pages reaches 375,000 fans and is designed to attract web traffic to a website called Suavelos.
Suave-what? Suavelos! It's an identarian organisation organising summer (white) camps created to
- “spread the idea that white people deserve their own land where they are at peace”;
- “fight the white people replacement”;
- “Cure the white ethno-masochism”;
- “spread the idea that white people deserve their own land where they are at peace”;
- “fight the white people replacement”;
- “Cure the white ethno-masochism”;
By the way, the Suavelos server hosts many other racist websites dedicated to white feminism (Bellica), racist comics (Fluide Racial) or the "Great Replacement" movement's official candidacy website for the European Elections.
But, why bother to manage so many Facebook pages, Vkontakte profiles, Twitter profiles, Telegram public channels? To attract audiences, of course!
In July, according to SimilarWeb, the Suavelos website attracted 230K visits. And mostly from social platforms, such as Facebook.
In July, according to SimilarWeb, the Suavelos website attracted 230K visits. And mostly from social platforms, such as Facebook.
Well placed advertisements on the Suavelos website like the ones from @GoogleAds or @taboola help to bring some money to the movement, as already described by @DisinfoIndex and @slpng_giants.
And if it's not enough, people can donate to the racist movement through @PayPal, or tip the funders through the "web creator" crowdfunding platform @Tipeee_Officiel.
And if people are really into the cause, they can visit Suavelos' webshop, to buy very subtle t-shirts.
In a nutshell, the Suavelos case illustrates how disinformation tactics can help to fund hate networks:
1 - Deceptive pages on Facebook with a hidden agenda
2 - Redirection to websites where monetization can be done through data (ads) or donations
3 - Polarization of discussions
1 - Deceptive pages on Facebook with a hidden agenda
2 - Redirection to websites where monetization can be done through data (ads) or donations
3 - Polarization of discussions
2 - How is it possible to have no transparency on the monetization of advertisements? Are ad companies like @taboola or @GoogleAds in fact making a profit out of disinformation and hate speech?
3 - How can crowdfunding companies such as @Tipeee_Officiel or payment companies such as @PayPal also support the regular monthly funding of these networks, even though it is a clear violation of their terms of use?
That's all for today folks! Thank you for your time!
BONUS POST: On the same day that Le Monde published the news, @facebook told Le Monde that the accounts and pages have been banned "following an internal investigation that lasted for several months".
We're sorry Facebook, but we find this hard to believe. 🙂
We're sorry Facebook, but we find this hard to believe. 🙂
