The tag #Remove1991WorshipAct is trending in India today. In fact, it was sitting at #3 in the country a few hours ago.
There's a campaign pushing a specific narrative behind it in a very coordinated way.
Let's take a look at how it works👇 /1
The campaign is first circulated around in a WhatsApp message like this.
It has a directive, time, and a Google Drive link. If you're new to Indian social media campaigns - this is common practice to amplify specific issues, especially during elections. 2/
In the Google Drive is a few documents with lists of suggested tweet texts in English & Hindi.
What's interesting is that there's also a 'click to tweet' option, which fills out a tweet by clicking on the link. So it's not really copy and paste anymore, but click and click. 3/
Here's an example of how those 'click to tweet' links work.
Note - this was performed for research purposes only. I do not endorse the suggested content. 4/
The Google Drive also contains a number of suggested images to be used in the campaign. I'd say if you're seeing these in the #Remove1991WorshipAct tweets today, they're going to be part of this effort. 5/
These campaigns are pretty repetitious, for example this is the result of a search for the text:
"Considering it marks a positive step towards Hindus long-standing efforts to reclaim their religious places of worship which were converted into mosques by Islamic invaders" 6/
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Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
It’s been six weeks since the Myanmar coup. Despite deaths, violence by security forces, internet shutdowns and night raids, demonstrators brave the streets. This was Hledan, Yangon, last night ✊
For the 31st night in a row the internet has been cut in Myanmar. That, and cell networks have now been offline for two days - @netblocks reports. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar
Well-timed satellite image on Google Earth 13/2 of the demonstration in front of the City Hall in Yangon (ရန်ကုန်). Note the military transport tucked behind the trees on the right, on standby. Location: goo.gl/maps/FTqA35dC9….
This forensic thread details 🧵👇
- HOW it was done
- HOW it spread
- WHO runs them
1. HOW WAS THIS OPERATION CARRIED OUT?
Yesterday morning I came across these tweets, and was sent these WhatsApp messages from contacts in India.
What are they? They're links to a Google Drive, containing suggested tweets and graphics to use. Let's have a closer peek.
Here is the Google Drive with a Google Document containing text packets of suggested tweets, and a folder with images for the network to pump out through Twitter.
Also an important point. It's not just Australia. The restriction is international, on Australian news publishers.
"Globally, posting and sharing news links from Australian publishers is also restricted".
That will be crippling.
Oh no! They got the Albany Advertiser Facebook page!
I did my cadetship here in 2009. A great community-based newspaper. It's just one of the many Facebook pages that have become a staple for media in Australia that are now cleared.
The copy and paste (copypasta) network is getting its text packets from this Google document. The tweets are in English, Hindi and Bangla.
Thank you to those who sent this through to me. It's an effective campaign to influence the topic of the coming elections.
The size of this sort of influence network? Well... I've just been collecting tweets under tag #BJPGorbeSonarBangla over the past 15 minutes. So far I've raked in 1789 tweets and growing 😅
Here's a visualisation of the main strand. The large nodes are: @AmitShah and @BJP4India
A copypasta campaign in India is targeting politically-sensitive tags #TMCHataoBanglaBachao & #KrishokSurokhaAbhijan on Twitter. I captured data over the past week for analysis.
It's clear there is coordinated activity here. Scores of pro-BJP/Pro-Modi accounts operate in a network to spam packets of text (copypasta method)
Example: the tag #TMCHataoBanglaBachao with the text “Bengal has been suffering from last 10 years. The TMC regime has built..."
And another related campaign, using the tag #KrishokSurokhaAbhijan with the text: "নতুন কৃষি আইনের দ্বারা কৃষিজ পণ্য বিক্রি করা হবে আরও সহজ। বিজেপি সরকার আনছে কৃষক সুরক্ষা অভিযান।"
Hi Twitter, having spent a lot of time on @googleearth, I've built up a collection art visible from space. I'd like to share some of my favs with you all in this thread 🛰️🎨
First up is the 'grandma' from Ella & Pitr in Pavilion 3, France, located here: goo.gl/maps/KGANS9Cge….
Exhibit 2 is also from Ella & Pitr, this time in Panaji, Goa, India. This one is of a swimmer, taking a rest on the roof of a carpark. It is located here: goo.gl/maps/Wpue1tDEN…. And you can find some of the other ones they did nearby here: xxlcollective.com/ella-pitr1
Exhibit 3 (one of my favs) is Art Attack from Kitt Bennett in Reservoir, Victoria, Australia (here: goo.gl/maps/nc1CbxY8E…). It is spread over three basketball courts. (original post here: instagram.com/p/Bc4AQUiBcmQ/)