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8 Jul, 6 tweets, 3 min read
New: Twitter was flooded with identical pro-lockdown tweets this week, leading many to blame a 'bot campaign' on behalf of a foreign government.

But it looks like the tweets were just part of a 'copypasta' effort from internet trolls.

dailydot.com/debug/twitter-…
Several high-profile accounts alleged that a 'bot army' had been deployed after dozens of tweets shared identical criticisms of the UK government's plan to ease lockdown restrictions.

dailydot.com/debug/twitter-…
I was able to track down the original tweet to a woman in the UK who was confused at why so many people were copying her tweet.

"I think the accounts were doing it to make the story of my brother look false," she said.

dailydot.com/debug/twitter-…
Twitter told me the tweets were removed for violating rules on "spam and platform manipulation."

When I asked whether the tweets were linked to some government campaign or simple trolling, Twitter referenced me to a previous statement about copypasta.

dailydot.com/debug/twitter-…
I reached out to several accounts that had copied the pro-lockdown tweet. One user, who ran an admitted satire account, said he the effort was trolling.

“It was just some copypasta,” he said. “People are just taking it the wrong way.”

dailydot.com/debug/twitter-…
This has happened before.

Prominent accounts accused Russia last year of attempting to influence the 2020 election after a tweet criticizing Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson for endorsing Joe Biden was widely copied.

Turned out to be copypasta as well.

dailydot.com/debug/the-rock…

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More from @MikaelThalen

Mikael Thalen Profile picture
4 Jun
Microsoft's Bing search engine appears to be censoring image results for "tank man"—a reference to the lone protester who stood in front of Chinese tanks—on the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre vice.com/en/article/qj8…
Meanwhile, a search for "tank man" on Google images displays what you would expect. Both the search on Google and Bing were made from the US, not China.
To be clear, searching "tank man" on either Google or Bing does return the relevant web results.

It's the image results on Bing that don't return any results. This could be a simple glitch at the end of the day. I reached out to Microsoft to ask.
Read 8 tweets
Mikael Thalen Profile picture
14 May
The preliminary hearing for this case was today and police never presented the so-called deepfake to the court.

Because, as I exclusively revealed in April, the cops never even had the video. The lawyer for the alleged deepfake mom has told me that the vaping video was real.
The district attorney in the case against the Pennsylvania mom accused of making deepfakes has now said that the videos in the case many not be deepfakes at all.

buckscountycouriertimes.com/story/news/202…
Prosecutors, who backtracked on their claims Friday that a Pennsylvania mom created deepfakes to harass her daughter's cheerleading rivals, are still taking the case to trial.

inquirer.com/news/rafaella-…
Read 5 tweets
Mikael Thalen Profile picture
14 May
Scoop: Document reveals Trump's D.C. hotel purposely spiked prices to keep out QAnon supporters. dailydot.com/debug/trump-ho…
In February, Forbes reported that the price of hotel rooms had increased from around $476 to $1,331 per night for March 3 & 4.

The hotel wouldn't confirm whether the price surge was related to the belief among QAnon supporters that Trump would be inaugurated on March 4.
An intelligence briefing leaked onto the dark web by a ransomware gang this week shows that D.C. police contacted Trump Hotel.

The hotel said it spiked prices as a "security tactic" in order to keep potential protesters from booking rooms.
Read 4 tweets
Mikael Thalen Profile picture
24 Nov 20
While there is an unconfirmed report of Parler being hacked, the screenshot circulating of a Parler database password is old.

I looked into the database leak in July and confirmed thanks to @WhiskeyNeon that it was for a site not held on the same infrastructure as the main site.
As you can see in an archived version of the configuration file, the page was discovered as early as July of this year.

This isn't to deny that a hack may have taken place, but that this screenshot is almost certainly unrelated. archive.ph/Mll5H
The leaked database was linked to a WordPress page that Parler seemingly used for blog posts and announcements. It would not have hosted user data.

The main Parler site is not based on WordPress.
Read 8 tweets
Mikael Thalen Profile picture
19 Nov 20
Thread: The debunked claim that servers run by Dominion Voting Systems were seized in Germany is making the rounds again.

So I'm going to explain where this claim originated from and how it devolved into its current incarnation. dailydot.com/debug/us-army-…
The claim appears to have originated in the form of a garbled German screenshot posted to Twitter that claimed the U.S. Army had raided Scytl, a Spanish election technology company, at their offices in Frankfurt.

(Translation on the right)
The screenshot made its way to Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tx.) several days later, who referenced the tweet during a Zoom call and during an interview on Newsmax.

Gohmert admitted that he didn't actually know whether the tweet was true.

leadstories.com/hoax-alert/202…
Read 8 tweets
Mikael Thalen Profile picture
14 Sep 20
An interesting point brought up by @ZTPetrizzo - The account that tweeted out photos of the Burkman raid was created last month and had zero previous tweets.

Given Burkman and Wohl's tracks record, I'd be a bit skeptical until the FBI confirms the raid. dailydot.com/debug/jack-bur…
A password reset attempt for the Twitter account that first tweeted out the photos of the alleged FBI raid on Jack Burkman shows that the account was created with the email ja*******@g****.***
A Virginia man tells the Daily Beast that he participated in the 'raid' after responding to a Craigslist ad seeking actors to play FBI agents for a television pilot.

In other words, the raid was staged by Burkman and Wohl.

thedailybeast.com/jacob-wohl-sta…
Read 5 tweets

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