2/ So first up. A core component of the biolabs story was a key piece of disinfo.
Remember, for a good conspiracy, it helps to have scandal and perceived nefarious behaviour. It's especially good if you can make it look like your adversary is hiding something!
How though?
3/ Well it was fairly simple. It was reported by 'investigative journalist' @dgaytandzhieva around 26th Feb that the US Embassy in Kyiv had deleted documents about its biolaboratories in Ukraine.
4/ As I have said before, this is false. The documents were never deleted. Furthermore the screenshot used by Dilyana saying 'site can't be reached' appears not to be related to the Embassy webpage. In sum, this new was false, but it went viral. +12k RTs! #Ukraine#disinformation
5/ (Incidentally, when I first mentioned this Dilyana blocked me and did not qualify or delete her tweet.) Which at the very least seems unprofessional, at the most, suspicious
6/ After Dilyana tweeted this, a number of others picked it up.
@kylenabecker blogged it March 7, saying DoD were trying to 'hide' documents
@SpokespersonCHN Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs - March 9
7/ Below you can see how the Twitter activity has evolved over the past two weeks. Dilyana (green) is initially the main influencer of this trend, then @SpokespersonCHN picks it up (orange), then most recently @zlj517 . This resulted in tens of thousands of likes/RTs
8/ I singled out these names because they are the most influential voices amplifying this conspiracy, which has also been a key point in appealing to the likes of QAnon. You can see the RT networks below
But they are not the only Chinese officials amplifying it
9/ Despite the fact the story was debunked days ago, some officials are still spreading it. E.g. The Chinese Consul General in Belfast has also repeated it, as has the Chinese Consul in Lebanon (today!)- at least in English, not sure about other languages.
10/ So regardless of veracity, the story is still going on. This 'what is the US trying to hide' narrative (see below) is explicitly being used to bolster the conspiratorial nature of the story, & a lot of the most influential people spreading it in English are Chinese diplomats
11 / So TLDR is; Chinese diplomats, who, like most diplomats, rarely stray from an official line, are demonstrably propagating a fake story popularized by an unaffiliated pro-Russian journalist, and fueling the biolab conspiracy. #UkraineRussiaWar #disinformation
12/ Some notes, this analysis involved around 7600 interactions on Twitter involving around 6700 unique accounts, mostly sent between 5-14th March. That's it for now. Peace
13/ oh yes, this is the link to the US Embassy in Kyiv where you can see all the 'deleted' documents ua.usembassy.gov/embassy/kyiv/s…
14/ interesting that links may have been down for an unspecified amount of time. Of course doesn't explain failure to correct narrative or cease it on the part of those involved
15/ Thanks @NadineNonny for pointing this out. Chinese state media is also spreading the deleted documents story in Arabic - group has over 15million likes
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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.