[Thread] 1/ This one is on Iraq/Iran/US. An interesting hashtag is trending. "انا عراقي البرلمان لا يمثلني" - which translates as "I am Iraqi and parliament doesn't represent me". The hashtag is a rejection of the Iraqi parliament's decision to end presence of foreign troops in
2/ Iraq. I downloaded around 5590 interactions from approx 2900 accounts. The activity is indicative of a co-ordinated influence campaign from potential bot accounts, or trolls accounts (not going to go into distinctions here). Of 2,660 or so accounts that tweeted the hashtag 
3/ 1199 were created in the past 3 months. Remember, the range of dates stretches back to around 2008 in this sample. That means almost 50% of accounts in the sample have been created in the past few months. That certainly seems disproportionate, even considering the amount
4/ of turmoil Iraq has endured over that period. The majority of the communications by the accounts are replies too, which is quite unusual in a hashtag, unless it's one trying to message influences. In mideast influence campaigns we are used to seeing a high number of Retweets
5/ As you can see the network is focused on attracting the attention of politicians and news organisations, no doubt to give the impression of an organic grassroots. Graph below shows some of the most followed accounts being mentioned by the accounts.
6/ There is a low diversity of Twitter applications being used to tweet from, which may be indicative of a small number of actors using a relatively limited amount of tools to get the trend going. Mostly android users as you can see, but only 9 different apps. We usually see more
7/ Around 2100 of the 2600 or so active accounts have 50 followers or less - a modest number, usually indicative that they are new or relatively low profile. A lot of the accounts appear to have historically rallied against Iranian influence in Iran (not surprising but perhaps
8/ more suspicious given the latest hashtag). Indeed, this collective on message campaign seems to be supportive of those who wish to maintain a US presence in Iraq. That's not a short list of people, so feel free to speculate who might be behind this influence campaign
9/ Usual caveats apply. I am not concerned with the validity of any of the arguments being expressed, but rather the way in which it appears public opinion is being manufactured and amplified on Twitter where it may or may not exist organically.
10/ This campaign is not unusual, we have seen similar campaign recently, most notably during the uprising towards the end of last year. Look here for more context >
11/ i should add that there is an even more extensive Arabic hashtag at the moment, which translates as "the Dissolution of parliament is a popular demand". Again, it displays qualities similar to the one just mentioned. Will post more later.
