Thread by @benimmo

Remember "DCblackout"?

At @Graphika_NYC, we've dug into how it happened.

Top takes:

- False info thrives when reliable sources are missing;
- Amplifiers can be key in boosting or damping it;
- Calling out "bots" requires really solid proof.

graphika.com/reports/misinf…

It starts with a dramatic and fast-moving situation on the night of May 31 to June 1: protests and tear gas in D.C., and reporters live-tweeting updates.

Tension, fear, fast-paced events. Fertile ground for confusion to take hold.

As the journalists go to bed - it being past 2am by then - the confusion sets in.

Users outside D.C. start asking why the capital's going silent.

This *doesn't* look like coordinated deception, but people getting alarmed.

The first accounts to use DCblackout as a hashtag don't get significant traction, but then other users pick it up and urge each other to amplify it.

Rumour becomes misplaced certainty, which becomes alarm.

Even in the middle of the night, some users push back. But using the hashtag means it keeps on picking up steam.

Crucially, other users start tagging @YourAnonCentral, which at that stage had over 2 million followers. (Over 6 million now.)

They ask for help. Some use the blackout hashtag.

Starting at 7.36 am, AnonCentral begins retweeting posts that used the hashtag.

Traffic on the hashtag rockets.

Some of the figures are wild. This account, retweeted by Anon Central, had 128 followers. It got 27k retweets.

But we didn't see signs of massive fake engagement. It looks like more what you get when an account with 2 million followers retweets you.

The follower structure around Anon Central was fascinating, too. Tight-packed accounts that follow it, but nothing else in the map.

That gives it the chance to reach into lots of different communities.

(And a map like the Death Star.)

Less than an hour later, Anon Central begins posting tweets that explain there was no blackout.

Suspect: a "broader misinformation campaign."

Again, the effect on the traffic is stark: not as sharp as the take-off, but important nonetheless.

Clarifications and corrections matter.

But still, confusion persists over "bots" and K-Pop profiles.

This was just when K-Pop stans were really starting to get behind BLM hashtags. There were some automated accounts in the DCblackout mix, but there were a *lot* of K-Pop supporters too. Some followed Anon.

The overall traffic dropped off steeply, but then an unknown started making mischief.

One apparently genuine user told people to stop spreading scare stories. Anon Central retweeted.

Then a whole bunch of accounts started posting the identical message verbatim - often a sign of bot activity.

Result? People started trying to rebut the rebuttal of DCblackout, because "bots."

This was a weird moment. At least some of the accounts that tweeted the key phrase later posted that they'd been hijacked and locked out of their own accounts.

But other people did it as a joke.

Sadly, not the first time we've seen pranks feed the flames of misinformation.

One user even copy-pasted the text to try and be helpful.

Important point for the bot-spotters among you: various observers noticed that a lot of accounts with zero followers all posted the phrase "Where are the protesters".

That seemed... odd.

Thing is, eyeball checking some of the accounts in question, they looked genuine. Unique posts, typos, short but individual posting histories...

The "zero followers" data point was weird, but it didn't automatically mean "bots".

DCblackout is what you get when people are scared, and don't have reliable information or evidence.

That's why it's so vital to keep the flow of evidence-based, attributed information going, and not call out info ops or bots until all the evidence is in.