🧵1/ This is an analysis of all accounts using the terms '#Ukraine' and 'bio labs'. I wanted to see which accounts were pushing this narrative the most, & which were the most influential. This is an analysis of around 20k Twitter interactions from approx 17k unique accounts
2/ Broadly speaking there are two communities. Cluster 1 are those generally promoting the existence of 'biolabs', mostly with nefarious undertones. Cluster 2 are accounts reporting on the US rejection of biolabs conspiracies, e.g. @washingtonpost
3/ Within group one there are a few tight clusters mentioning biolabs, and seemingly helping push the conspiratorial narrative including numerous Americans, such as @JackPosobiec@ChuckCallesto@bennyjohnson
4/ Some of their conspiratorial insinuations come from conflating US diplomat Victoria Nuland's mention of biological research labs with offensive biolabs, which the Kremlin are framing as some sort of bioweaponry nerve/covid/ethnicity based agent production facility #Ukraine
5/ There's also a trope of evidence being 'deleted' re these biolabs, obviously to bolster the conspiracy. It's being pushed by blue ticks, and Bulgarian journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, - but it's false
6/ Dilyana is falsely claiming that the US Embassy in Kyiv is deleting documents pertaining to its biological threat reduction program. This is not true, the documents are still there, and Dilyana's 'site can't be reached' screenshot contains a different URL from embassy website
7/ Interestingly, Dilyana's tweet, which remember is incorrect, was then retweeted by the Chinese Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, who asked her 1.1 million followers what the US was hiding? #Ukraine#UkraineWar
8/ Of course Tucker Carlson content features heavily on the hashtag... He's obviously using it, like many republicans, as a stick to beat Biden with. #Ukraine#misinformation
9/ The most influential account spreading the disinformation, which I managed to collect just in time, was @ASBMilitary - a very active Twitter account that has been spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda. An hour ago, it was suspended, this was one of its most recent tweets #ukraine
10/As @ThePlumLineGS and others such as @Shayan86 have pointed out, the biological labs are no secret, and officials were even debunking this during the Trump administration. Read here for more >
11/ There's a lot more highly followed accounts also spreading the outrage and fear, @PeoplesParty_US right wing social media apps like @getongab - but I'll leave it there for now.
13/ I just analysed the biographies of the accounts spreading the biolabs disinfo. The second most common word is MAGA, followed by Trump, god and conservative. MAGA appeared 655 times, so in around 6% of the sample with available bio data #Ukraine#UkraineRussiaWar
14/ Going to end with this meme I made
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1/ Another key aspect of this campaign was the part targeting #Lebanon. The accounts below are all linked to the campaign. All of them attempt to interfere in Lebanese politics by riling up sectarian sentiment, diverting blame away from Israel and focusing on Iran and Hezbollah
2/ These groups, with names like "No to the Iranian Occupation", "Shia Against War", and "the war of 2006 is remembered and will not be repeated" position themselves as groups representing real people. They all use similar TTPs & identical branding strategies. All have been
3/ suspended from Facebook but not Twitter, and many have run ads. Shia Against War, for example, paid to advertise content from the Tahoror movement (see right). However Tahoror denied any involvement with the group.
1/ 📝Excited to announce the release of "The Qatar Plot," authored by myself & @SohanDsouza. This investigation (covered in @afp today) reveals a massive influence op targeting Qatar & Muslims, including in the US, UK and EU - ahead of European Elections sites.google.com/view/theqatarp…
2/ 🚨 Our findings uncover a vast network spreading xenophobic, anti-Muslim, anti-immigration, and anti-Qatar disinformation. The operation spanned platforms like Facebook, Twitter/X, YouTube, and TikTok. To a lesser extent, the op also target Iran🌐 #Disinfo #Islamophobia
3/ 🇫🇷🇬🇧🇺🇸 Targeted countries include France, the UK, the USA, Germany, Spain, Sweden Saudi,and more. This network reached millions, manipulating ,public sentiment with at least 41 million reached on Facebook alone (and this is a conservative estimate). 📈 #QatarPlotReport
🧵1/ There is some confusion going on around the strike in Rafah. This is largely due to awful IDF instructions. In a video on 22nd May IDF spokesman @AvichayAdraee told people that Zones 2371, 2373, 2360 were safe. I have highlighted this below.
2/ The source of the confusion lies in the fact that the image of the highlighted map in @AvichayAdraee's video DOES NOT match the text. The image initially does not include zones 2371, 2373, 2360 yet the text explicitly states they are safe.
3/ However the location of the strike has been reported to be both 2371 and 2372. Existing geolocation by @m_osint and Al Jazeera suggests it was in 2372, not 2371. Zone 2372 was not explicitly mentioned by the IDF. However...
1) Telegraph subtly trying to align pro-Palestinian voices with Chinese and Russian disinformation. No actual evidence is provided here of Chinese and Russian interference, simply a note that some pro-Palestinian accounts have fake followers.
2) (It should be noted that you can't control who follows you). From my point of view there are a LOT of fake accounts on X promoting various points of view. However, there is more evidence for Israel using fake accounts on FB, Insta and X to smear UNRWA aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/19…
3) Interestingly, the network that was focusing on attacking UNRWA, is also focusing on blaming the Chinese/Russian/Iranian 'axis of evil'. While it's plausible China and Russia are trying to influence narratives, the narrative that China and Russia are the only ones operating
🧵1/ Israel are attempting to muddy the waters around the killing of an international UN worker in a clearly marked vehicle. They have released a video claiming that "terrorists" are roaming and shooting at a UNRWA compound. There's no evidence that indicates they are
2/ terrorists. The video shows armed men mingling with what are probably UN workers. There is no sense of coercion or animosity in those shots. Crucially, there is no caveat that these people might not be factions or Hamas police protecting aid convoys.
3/ The US has even asked Israel to stop targeting Hamas police officers trying to protect aid. Naturally the video provides no context, and remember the IDF are an organisation that recently murdered multiple aid workers in clearly marked vehicles.
🧵1/ I am somewhat dismayed (though sadly unsurprised) by this extremely disingenuous and callous reporting about Palestinian death figures. Claims that the UN have revised down its death toll are absolutely untrue but have been repeated by right wing outlets but also the CFR 🤔
2/ These media are focusing on these two infographics by the @ochaopt . The one on the left, published 6th May, the one on the right published 8th May. As you can see, total fatalities INCREASE, as opposed to decrease. What the propaganda is seaking to do is barely sophistry
3/All that's happening is the OCHA has added figures for the dead that have been identified. It quite clearly says that the breakdown DOES NOT include 10000 missing or buried under rubble.