Tried my best to stay away from this whole sordid #SSR drama/ modern day salem witch trial in order to preserve last remaining vestiges of sanity.
What follows is a thread on how bot-like and inauthentic accounts are being mobilised to hack Twitter trending in the country. So heres a 101 on how to spot a manipulated hashtag - #RheaArrested now you're on my turf. #OSINT #socialmediamanipulation
Earlier today, local media reported that #RheaChakraborty was arrested by Narcotics Control Bureau ostensibly for the possession and consumption of marijuana. theprint.in/india/ncb-arre…
Immediately after, #RheaArrested began to gain traction on #Twitter alongside messages celebrating her arrest using the phrase "sorry babu" apparently referencing the alleged words uttered by #RheaChakraborty on seeing #SushantSinghRajput body at the morgue. Sickening. 
Strangely enough, analysis into the hashtag activity over the last 7 days via Meltwater Explore showed #RheaArrested managed to get 224,000 mentions on 7 September from just 67.5 k accounts with an instantaneous increase in mentions from 21 - 224331 at 0830hrs in the morning. Odd
Looking further it turns out of the 224,000 mentions gained by the hashtag on @Twitter, 170,000 (75%) comprised of retweets over original messaging mostly from low quality accounts, providing further indicators of inauthentic activity.
Examining the top 5 accounts according to volume of posts provides further indication of social media manipulation.
The primary poster whose bio reads 'Swayamsevak Hindu" posted the hashtag 90 times over the course of the day. Surprisingly the user appears to be a underage/young child with his own domestic fact-checking outlet? @FactTruthReport (Altnews/boomlive beware!)
The rest of the posters seem to be more traditional bot accounts with account names consisting of an assortment of alpha-numeric scrambles.
A quick glance at their timeline reveals the suspicious accounts exhibiting inauthentic behaviour share a similar outlook and agenda...
Who are the main amplifiers of this hashtag aside from these overtly suspicious accounts? Well let us take a look at the most popular tweets using the hashtag as well as the accounts with the largest reach that used the hashtag the most. Nothing funny to see here no sir
The aim of a political bot-net is to make a divisive or fringe belief seem more popular than it is. This is not to say that everyone who amplified this hashtag is a bot, but show how a bot-net was likely used to make #RheaArrested and #sorrybabu trend nationally on the platform.
