Thread by @shelbygrossman

CNN is reporting that they uncovered a Russia-linked troll farm based out of Ghana & Nigeria, operating under the front of an NGO, EBLA (Eliminating Barriers for the Liberation of Africa): cnn.com/2020/03/12/wor… Here are some prelim thoughts, with focus on the Africa dimension.

First, this is further evidence of foreign disinformation actors franchising out their activities via funding and involvement of locals, which my team reported on in other African countries last year.

https://twitter.com/shelbygrossman/status/1189542784635555841?s=20

These were very low engagement accounts; most were created in 7/2019. Following/follower ratios were close to 1, max follower count 9,345. They retweeted each other, perhaps trying to increase those numbers. They also regularly tweeted at/retweeted influencers...most in the USA.

Several of the accounts appear to have changed their locations from spots in Africa to cities in the US; looking back at some of their history shows these location changes. Here is one that was in Accra that then “moved” to the US and talked about her tax dollars.

Confusingly, for example, one account called @african_news_ was more interested in US news:

Another account @BlackBarriers, declared its location in Accra, and focused on topics like the following:

There were a few accounts that tweeted about African issues. The account @_Pawa_2_da_ppl_ tweeted about xenophobia toward Nigerians in South Africa and violence against women in South Africa. Though like the above accounts, she also couldn’t tear herself away from US politics:

Debora was a Sarkodie fan. Same. Let’s all pause and listen to my favorite Sarkodie song: youtube.com/watch?v=559MTq…

The older accounts that started in 2014-2016 had different purposes originally - maybe because they were affiliated with a digital marketing firm. They would retweet and engage with Jumia’s various Twitter accounts, along with VodafoneGhana.

Despite some accounts being based in Nigeria, there weren’t that many tweets about Nigeria. But here’s a taste from @blackresolution, who had the profile description “elevating black lives”:

Facebook says they "found links to [...] individuals associated with past activity by the Russian Internet Research Agency" about.fb.com/news/2020/03/r… Congrats to Clemson, CNN, Facebook, & Twitter for finding and stopping this operation!