For the last 6 months, I’ve been a member of a Signal group called ‘trollhunters’. A small group of people who’d noticed - & been disturbed by - the extreme trolling that happens here & had come together to try & figure it out. To understand how pile-ons were being organised..
1/
We take so much of what happens on here as ‘normal’. It’s not. That’s not say it’s ‘bots’ - though they come into it. Or Russian trolls - though they’re here too. Often it’s ordinary people. With a greater or less degree of organisation. Who come together to bully & inflame
2/
It’s been fascinating to eavesdrop on their conversations. And to learn with them. I feed them my trolls - look at this guy, I say, who doesn’t follow me or anyone I know but is on my case calling me a cunt & a criminal within seconds of a post. I have so many of those.
3/
It’s also - speaking frankly - helped me deal with what has, at times, been quite extreme. Because let me let you into a secret: cyber bullying is bullying.

Anyway, the upshot is that we’re taking this Signal group public. We want more people to understand this stuff.
4/
Because we need to figure out what to do about it. It’s polluting our public space, destroying our politics, manipulating our media & silencing critical voices.

And it ain’t going to be the platforms that fix this. Or the government
5/
So...it’s probably pissing in the wind, but we’re going to piss.

@allthecitizens is starting a series of workshops with the troll hunters & invited guests This week we’re kicking off with ex-CIA analyst @CindyOtis_ & disinfo academic @marcowenjones
6/

zoom.us/webinar/regist…
😂

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More from @carolecadwalla

28 Nov
Well, they don’t call it the Orwell Prize for nothing. The dystopian truth twisters are out again: @spectator has taken a verifiably false claim & woven it into ideological talking points from RT & Sputnik. Thank you for this incredible honour, @afneil
spectator.co.uk/article/carole…
Here for the hell of it is George Orwell’s son - an amazing moment. And a funny-not-funny related story. An hour before this, Guardian’s lawyer @ladywell23 rang me in alarm: she’d just found out Banks had reported me to police. 2 days later, we drilled what to do in police raid..
That ploy failed but 2.5 years on, here we are. Where even free speech libertarians line up to take a whack. I’m grateful for support of @RSF_inter @pen_int & others who see the law as one part of changing & worsening threat landscape for journalists

theguardian.com/world/2019/jul…
Read 4 tweets
25 Nov
NEW: the government has privately admitted the combined impact of Covid + pandemic will disrupt multiple essential services including food, medicine & drinking water & risks plunging UK into a ‘systemic financial crisis’. From @_EmmaGH & me

theguardian.com/politics/2020/…
The ‘official sensitive’ briefing of ‘Reasonable Worst Case Scenarios’ has been distributed to multiple govt agencies.

Yesterday, the Cabinet Office refused to comment on both the content of the leaked documents or why these scenarios were being kept secret from the public
This document needs to be read by the British public. It’s Operation Yellowhammer updated to reflect situation now with the country preparing to exit Europe in the middle of a pandemic. It depicts a nation under huge pressure without time or capacity to prepare for what’s ahead
Read 9 tweets
13 Nov
Okay, hands up who has ever left their job on the actual day they resigned/got the push with a big brown box? It literally doesn’t happen apart from in bottom-of-the-algorithm Netflix movies. I’m sorry but I suspect this is really far nearer the mark
Meanwhile @mikeysmith has a completely different narrative of what happened today. With everyone parting as top pals. The bust-up a fake bust-up

mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…
An account backed by Peston’s deepthroat..
Read 4 tweets
13 Nov
Well, I for one, am sad that Cummings is going. He’s the living link to Vote Leave corruption. The reminder that the same govt that is bringing you Brexit, mass death & billion pound contracts to cronies came to power by deliberately subverting our electoral laws. What a legacy
A reminder of how much attention, BBC’s political team gave Cummings when Vote Leave was accused of electoral fraud (allegations later found & admitted). His claims of innocence & accusations against others were repeated. There was no other mention
And this was how his contempt of parliament was covered
Read 4 tweets
3 Nov
Gulp. #Election2020 We’re doing this later. A Biden victory?? Or...?!? We’re doing a breakdown of what the night holds. Plus thoughts & analysis from the brilliant @baddiel & @sarahkendzior & @binajv. And the view from inside the amazing @ProjectLincoln war room with @reedgalen
If you're not been following @ProjectLincoln, they're the Republican anti-Trumpers who've been running a massive war room out of Utah campaigning for Biden. This is their latest...
And here's that amazing moment when @baddiel confronted Facebook over why it was promoting holocaust denial...
Read 5 tweets
31 Oct
If you follow British political Twitter, you probably know all about the ongoing scandal of the PPE contracts. If you’re not on Twitter, you probably have no idea. A relief to see it get some mainstream coverage today...
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8…
Mail article is based on relentless ongoing work by @JolyonMaugham & @GoodLawProject. And @WritesBright at @BylineTimes have been covering exhaustively. And @GeorgeMonbiot has been jumping up & down. But this is cronyism & corruption of the highest order

bylinetimes.com/2020/07/23/how…
This isn’t just about money (our money). It’s about lives. The govt’s incompetence & corruption is going to kill more healthcare workers. That’s just a fact. As we head into 2nd wave, @meenalsworld & @ThePalpitations still trying to get answers from 1st

Read 4 tweets

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