Thread by @marcowenjones

🧵 [Thread] 1/ This thread is about some attempts to manipulate the Arabic hashtag "boycott elections". The trend refers to upcoming Shura council elections in Qatar. It's currently the number one trend in Qatar. There is clear manipulation + outside influence. Read on>

2/ First, while the topic of Shura elections has generated much debate, it is clearly going to be an issue of international scrutiny. So at these times looking at social media commentary and manipulation will be key, especially with democratic backsliding in the region #Qatar

3/ It's not a big hashtag. Only around 300 interactions from around 250 unique accounts. However, the most retweeted account is a digital marketing account that literally offers trend promoting services. > noof30304. 100 RTs and 40 likes cost 10 Riyals! This account

4/ This marketing account accounts for 116 RTs and 47 likes on the hashtag, already a large proportion. We should probably assume that those RTs are also from fake accounts 9 (at least initially because real accounts will RT when the tweet become more prominent).

5/ Here's one of the accounts retweeting the marketing accounts > @JimmyRuff77 - Yeah I am pretty sure this Jimmy Ruff is not really following Qatar's Shura elections... Same with Becky Mills....

6/ What's more, the most 'influential' account on the hashtag is EdyCohen an Israeli account who has tweeted disinformation about Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood before. He is often in lock step with Emirate influencer account. Edy has around 4300000 followers.

7/ Edy is spreading information about women not being able to participate in elections. Not quite clear what he is talking about, since women can run for the Shura council. A lot of retweets from Emirate and Saudi accounts by the looks of it... #Qatar

8/ It's also worth noting some of the tweets aren't actually about Qatar, but Lebanon and Iraq...

9/ A lot of the signal boosting also comes from accounts that are criticising the trend as supposed to supporting it...

9/ Another influential node is an apparently Emirate account called Emarate_Shield who is again accusing the Qatar government of being Muslim Brotherhood terrorists. Incidentally, the Emarate_Shield account was very influential on a hashtag about Tunisia a few days ago...

10/ One of the accounts kuwarimud is again spreading disinformation saying the election is for men only and not women. The account 'royal qatar' replies seems to be saying women aren't suitable for leadership, presumably this is to make Qataris look more misogynistic?

11/ Anyway that's enough for now. While there are many genuine discussions, including praise and criticism of the upcoming elections, this is not one. This trend is clearly misleading, mostly dominated by disinformation, paid spambots, non-Qataris (UAE/Saudi) and an Israeli