Thread by @marcowenjones

[Thread] 1/ Here is another #manipulation thread (I'll try make it shorter, but it's got some juicy nuggets). This is an analysis of the hashtag "Qatar Revolts". We've seen such hashtags on Lebanon, Iraq, Tunisia etc. It's a common hashtag during *widespread* demonstrations.

2/ For context again There were/are some protests in Qatar, mostly by some members of the Al Marra tribe who have been excluded from the upcoming Shura Elections. For more background on statelessness in Qatar, see this AI report for example: refworld.org/docid/483e27ab…

3/ As this graph shows, the two circled communities are worth further examination. Both represent accounts being retweeted heavily by accounts using an identical application (in this case, Twitter Web App). Who are they retweeting? See next > #disinformation #Qatar

4/ One of the accounts being retweeted is @joelezander - an Arabic verified account belonging to a social media manipulation service. But wait, Joelezander, doesn't sound too Arabic. it's because it's not, it's the appropriated account of @abcnews producer Joel Zander! Hey Joel!

5/ Who is the other account being retweeted. Well, not to spoil the surprise, it's another hacked verified account, belonging to Ishita Anand, the Founder and CEO of the India-based firm @bitgiving, a crowdfunding platform. #disinformation

6/ Even Ishita's Google card links to her Twitter account, but see what happens when you click it. It goes to the account which now seems to be offering to sell and deliver PS5s to people in Saudi. #disinformation #cybersecurity

7/ The number of accounts retweeting ishita & Zoel, is about 661. Again, many appear to be hacked accounts repurposed by some digital marketing entity. Meet for example, too_sexy123, who is now promoting massages and erm, the Gulf Research Centre. #disinformation

8/ So that's at least 661 additional fake accounts. Add that to the batch I found earlier & it's approximately 1789 fake accounts, all dedicated to promoting hashtags around the Qatar elections -more specifically hashtags meant to portray the country as being in a state or revolt

9/ There's also this community, which just seem to be accounts augmenting the hashtag with unrelated spam and videos. See for example: @zzz140000 and @ladymohan , or the very catchy @3jlk1yy5k5olkaz #disinformation

10/ Interestingly, t he most influential accounts on the hashtag are also the spammy ones or hacked verified ones. So again, the manipulated or inauthentic accounts seem to be important in boosting the salience of the hashtag. TurkeyAffairs also features highly

11/ Anyway, that's me done for now. Takeaways

1) Hashtags around Qatar Shura elections are highly manipulated by spammy accounts and unknown news accounts

2) At least 1,700 hijacked sockpuppet accounts used in this, including one belong to @abcnews journalist

3) Peace #disinfo