Thread by @BySteveReilly

We researched some of the biggest Facebook groups promoting the Canadian trucker protest before they were shut down yesterday, and noticed something was a bit off.

The only individual admin running some of the most active groups was one woman in Missouri. Or so it seemed.🧵⤵️

The woman's years-old Facebook account had no real history of political activity until January 2022, when it suddenly posted a fundraiser for Donald Trump.

Below the post was a comment from the woman's daughter:

"I like how you hacked my moms shit but you won't answer my dm."

I called the woman on her publicly listed number, and she said her account had been hacked.

The stolen account was administering a collection Facebook groups started between Jan. 26 and Jan. 28 that had amassed more than 300,000 followers that had 7,500 posts.

.@twiceanya, @benjaminopowers and I looked into the role disinformation, social media and suspicious online activity are playing in the events unfolding on the streets of Ottawa.

Here's our latest for @gridnews: grid.news/story/misinfor…

@Facebook has not yet responded to questions from @gridnews about this.

Its parent company, @Meta, mentioned "scammers" in media statements about the removal of Freedom Convoy groups — but did not address groups run by operators hiding behind a hacked personal Facebook account.

We're continuing to follow this story at @gridnews.

Please follow my colleagues @twiceanya & @benjaminopowers and feel free to shoot us an email or DM if you have tips or leads for us to follow.

Here are some notes on even more curious behavior on "Freedom Convoy" Facebook groups that are still active.

Follow along from Canada to Bangladesh⤵️

https://twitter.com/BySteveReilly/status/1491809190993616900