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[Thread] 1/ In the wake of this Saudi spies saga, I am reposting some of the many suspicious investigations I have done into how Saudi Twitter has been manipulated, censored and weaponized.
2/ First up, this journal article documents how Twitter was used to create the pretext for the cutting off relations and demonization of Qatar in May/June 2017. It's charts the manipulation of Twitter with pro Saudi/quartet propaganda. It's open access ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc…
3/ A month ago Twitter dumped a lot of accounts they had suspended for 'political' spam. The accounts reportedly originated from both the UAE and Saudi. In this Washington Post piece, I discuss what these spam accounts were talking about. washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/…
4/ When Jamal Khashoggi was murdered, somehow Saudi Twitter appeared to have suppressed trends about his killing. Indeed, Arabic news discourse on at least one hashtag was dominated by Saudi propaganda jadaliyya.com/Details/38185
5/ With all the talk of verification requests in the Saudi spies story, I thought this investigation into did into hacked Verified accounts spreading Saudi propaganda was also very interesting... alaraby.co.uk/english/indept…
6/ Here's one I co-wrote with @abulkhaezuran in the Washington Post about Twitter bots, Saud al-Qahtani, and the state of disinformation in the Arabic Twittersphere washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-ca…
@abulkhaezuran 7/ Finally here's an analysis of all Middle East verified Twitter accounts - to see who's got the most social media power in the Arabic-speaking word. Spoiler, it's Saudi.
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Marc Owen Jones
@marcowenjones
"That all changed with the rise of MBS. Saudi Twitter gradually morphed into a propaganda platform, with the government deploying trolls and pressuring influencers to amplify its messages." by @oamaz7 washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
@oamaz7 "More than 30 influencers told me that the Saudi government blackmailed them with material obtained by hacking their phones. They were given two options: Tweet propaganda or have your private content, including pictures, released on Twitter."
@oamaz7 "In 2013, Jamal posted: “Someday Twitter will win a Nobel prize.” But now we see it’s slipping into darkness. Will Twitter take measures to protect our public square? Right now I’m worried, but I will continue to fight for free expression, at least online."
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Marc Owen Jones
@marcowenjones
[Thread] 1/ This one's about how many Twitter accounts have been verified since they suspended their public verification in February 2018. Many of you know my thoughts on verification, I believe a robust verification system will really curb platform manipulation.
2/ I can determine that at least 8,124 accounts were verified since between 27 February 2018 and October 1st 2019. I say "at least" because I am only able to analyse those accounts that were both verified and created after February 27th 2018. I don't have a 'verified since'
3/ field in my metadata. Below you can see that the amount of verified accounts appears to have been declining leading up to September 2019. This indicates perhaps a general phasing out even of private, behind the scenes, verification
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Marc Owen Jones
@marcowenjones
All this talk of an "end" to the Gulf Crisis to me implies a reversion to a past relationship. This to me belies the fact that the events of 2017 and beyond have had a profound impacts on people's families, perceptions of regionalism, foreign affairs and trade. Whatever happens
to repair relationships at least formally will not be an end to a crisis but rather the start of a new phase of GCC relations. To suggest it will be business-as-usual is to fall into the trap of Gulf essentialism: I.e. These spats come and go, but it will always remain the same
It makes more sense to talk about aspects of the relationship. Trade for example, you think Qatar will once again rely on Saudi for imports after they were suddenly all curtailed? To do so would be foolish and just leave the country as vulnerable as it was in 2017
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Rajini Vaidyanathan
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A #thread on #DelhiPollution.

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Read this thread for more #DelhiAir:
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After Ziaur Rahman was assassinated, in 1981 Justice Abdus Sattar became the President while Army Chief Lt. Gen. Hussain Mohammad Ershad extended his support. They clashed since president refuted the military’s extensive role in govt. and civil administration.
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Oloye Akin Alabi
@akinalabi
Nothing Is Impossible For Someone Who Doesn’t Know It Can’t Be Done!

#THREAD

Once upon a time, there was a very rich man who was getting very old and feeling he would die soon.

He’d had a wonderful life and now, he wanted to leave his considerable fortune to his 3 daughters.
The daughters had married well. The rich, old guy had great affection and respect for all three of the gentlemen his daughters had chosen to marry.

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Dr. Sherifa Zuhur
@SherifaZuhur
#Saudi actors who ordered #Khashoggi's death were aware he wanted his divorce paper, but hadn't anticipated his fiancee's call to Aktay which had some swift consequences. Turkish authorities searched one of the planes leaving with part of the murder team, but found nothing. /1
"Turkish intelligence agency MIT decided to review an audio-visual feed fr inside the consulate"... Grisly details ... suggest that Khashoggi was tortured then killed soon after entering the consulate" /2 cnn.com/2018/10/19/mid…
Had Hatice Cengiz not been there to call Aktay, the Turks wouldn't have suspected as soon as they did, that #Khashoggi had been killed. The info. about that clandestine AV feed was leaked over the week as the Saudis were swift to deny & slow to cooperate with the investigation./3
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Sophia
@les_politiques
1/ The #Saudi kidnapping of #Khashoggi reminds me of the kidnapping of #Hariri. It is meant to embarrass the other party, this time the gov of #Turkey, and provoke a diplomatic crisis. This is drug Cartel methods. It has no other goal than to assert power over the other.
2/ However, resorting to these methods to assert power in the political and international affairs sphere is always a sign of weakness and a sign of a power in crisis. #SaudiArabia
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