November 27, 2024: Our X/Twitter account (@threadreaderapp) got hacked and unrolls aren't working right now. We appreciate your patience until this is resolved.
Operation Lafiya Doyle air strikes on "Boko Haram" locations in Borno State by Nigerian Air Force on 25 June saw some pretty heavy bombing of remote villages. "Tongule Village" was one of the heavily hit areas. Its location is: goo.gl/maps/x54V7awcV…
One of the strikes landed in the east side of the village, but looking at imagery from 2018 shows strikes took out a chunk of the village back then too. The box in red was an earlier strike from mid-2018. The June 25 bombing seen in screenshot landed here: goo.gl/maps/iVuGVwF4u…
Second village in OP Lafiya Doyle bombing was "Bukar Meram" near Lake Chad. It is located here: goo.gl/maps/9psdr6gzs…. H/T @TomaszRolbiecki. Just like Tongule village, Bukar Meram had been bombed in the past (2019) as it was an alleged #ISWAP camp.
Geolocation of Bombing of 'Boko Haram positions' in 'Mina' Village, Nigeria, July 3 2020, as part of the continued strikes by Nigeria in OP Lafiya Doyle. Location of the village is here: goo.gl/maps/3t2f31HpK….
This same village targeted yesterday for its Boko Haram 'logistics facilities' was also bombed heavily on 5 March 2020 targeting areas used as 'ISWAP hideouts' ().
Recent strike on Mina is interesting as it is only 20km from Limani, on the border of Cameroon. The area hasn't had as much recent (post-2018) activity as areas closer to Lake Chad or Sambisa Forest.
Something I am working on is mapping activity (BH/ISWAP) with destroyed villages (attributable to BH/ISWAP/strikes/abandonment.
Map shows:
red (deceased village)
black (Mar 20)
green (Feb 20)
purple (Jan 20)
blue (2019+ activity)
grey (2005-2019)
Recent NAF footage shows aerial support against Boko Haram attack on Nigerian Army defensive positions in #Gubio (81km N of Maiduguri) here: goo.gl/maps/h9WAXq1ie…. Note the deep trenches seen around the town, here's a closeup:
Today is #WorldMentalHealthDay. As digital investigators we're often not experiencing what we see online, in real life, but it can still affect many.
So to keep doing the important documentation and investigative work online, here's a few practical steps you can take.👇
1. When sharing graphic content with colleagues and friends, remove those previews and give a little graphic warning indicator. There's always a little 'X' in the corner to remove preview.
2. Consider changing the settings on your social media platforms so you're not absorbing horrific content while doomscrolling. You don't have to filter it out, but at least stop the autoplay.
I was recently on a flight across Australia when I spotted this massive figure on the ground. It led me on a digital journey to find out what it was, how it got there and who made it.
I'm going to explain a bit more about what it is in this thread, and how I found out. 👇🧵
Without internet on the plane, I made a screenshot on my phone of the location (yes it was on flight mode) and later used flight tracking to pinpoint exactly where I saw it.
Using @flightradar24, I traced the path my plane took and found the spot!
Next stop: @googleearth 🗺️
I zoomed into the area and there it was — this huge humanoid figure etched in the Australian outback. Measuring 2.7km tall and covering an area of more than 1.7 square kilometres, it's a sight to behold.
Despite our reporting last week on the fake network of pro-Trump MAGA accounts, there appears to be many more accounts actively posting the exact same content. This one, @brenda_otto_ with 18k+ followers, is stealing photos from an Australian Instagram model in Queensland.
Here's another fake MAGA account, @Tracy_Miller044, stealing images from a fashion blogger (a popular one too).
@Tracy_Miller044 - if you want to reach out and talk about your work, why you're running these campaigns etc, I'm open.
Here is @Sarah_Hickey__
Sarah is stealing the photos of a Czech Instagram influencer to create a persona claiming to be a MAGA republican conservative with 40k+ followers and a blue tick (which means it's apparently not misleading).
A network of fake accounts are posing as young American women, posting pro-Trump content and disinformation, but they’re hiding behind, and manipulating, the images of European fashion influencers.
Our latest investigation at @Cen4infoRes. Details in this thread 🧵👇
Our full analysis can be seen at @Cen4infoRes here: . We also collaborated with @CNN to dig out the human stories behind those who had their photos stolen
One of the accounts is Eva. She lives in the US, and likes hanging out at the beach and posting to her 5000+ followers on X. Eva posts strong opinions against LGBTQ people and the US Democratic party and is a loyal supporter of former US president Donald Trump.
Today US DoJ announced seizure of two domains and the search of 968 accounts on X used in a "Russian-government backed campaign" to spread disinformation.
Affidavit includes all of the accounts requested from X 👇
The DoJ announcement said the campaign used elements of AI to create fictitious social media profiles purporting to belong to individuals in the United States, which the operators then used to promote messages in support of Russian government objectives. justice.gov/opa/pr/justice…
The affidavit for the accounts on X shows that all of the accounts were registered to email addresses that were either using the domain 'otanmail' or 'mlrtr' justice.gov/d9/2024-07/aff…
A new coordinated network of fake accounts pretending to be ‘Real Sikhs’ is targeting activists, stoking tensions and promoting Indian Govt narratives.
Who are they, what do they post, and how do they spread their campaign? Report:
Let's take a look 👇🧵 info-res.org/post/return-of…
Before we start, it's important to note that this is not the first time we have exposed a network like this at @Cen4infoRes. In Nov 2021 we identified a similar network. But in the months after the accounts were removed, new accounts popped up.
In this new network, what we do know is the network of fake accounts posts content to undermine Sikh activists, stoke cultural tensions and promote Indian government narratives. But who are the accounts, and how are they posting so that we can catch future attempts?