Benjamin Strick Profile picture
Apr 10, 2022 14 tweets 10 min read Read on X
Pro-Russian accounts and 'fake news' sites are trying to claim that satellite imagery from @Maxar, posted by @nytimes, showing bodies on the streets of Ukraine's Bucha are fake, but in this thread, you're going to see how silly pro-Russian disinformation attempts can be 🧵👇 Image
Many accounts have posted these claims that Maxar didn't have satellites running over Bucha on March 19. ImageImageImageImage
This is the imagery that has been at the centre of the attempted 'debunking' by pro-Russian accounts.
This pro-Kremlin 'fact checking' site WarOnFakes appears to be the source of much of the attempts to raise doubt, and promote pro-Russian narratives. The site published an article claiming Maxar had no satellite coverage of Bucha at that time. waronfakes.com/lies-about-buc…
In the article, they claim that @Maxar's archive (discover.digitalglobe.com) has no trace of March 19 imagery. Image
And they're right. It doesn't show March 19 imagery there. Why? Because they have failed to select the filter option of the range of nadir to show all available imagery. Image
One clear look at the source site of @Maxar's archive (where they got their screenshot) shows that there is indeed March 19 imagery. Image
So how did they make this mistake? When you open up the search filters, by default the library only shows imagery at 30% off nadir (the angle in which the satellite is at when it takes the image, basically).

They forgot to open up that range. ImageImage
The results differ quite a lot between low and high nadir ranges, as you can see. This fundamental flaw by WarOnFakes comes down to very basic things.

The 'proof' that WarOnFakes, and all of the other pro-Russian accounts are using, is proof that they cannot use simple tools. ImageImage
Despite the efforts in this thread to squash this disinformation denying events in Bucha, the WarOnFakes reports are still being amplified by impactful accounts. For example, this Hollywood director. ImageImage
Many asked for this 'debunking' and context around Bucha in a report, so we've written it up and have also addressed claims that the shadows were wrong in the satellite imagery and show how these narratives were amplified by the Russian Government info-res.org/post/disinform…
We've also obtained satellite imagery from @planet dated March 21 that matches the location of the bodies seen in the @Maxar imagery over Bucha. As extra proof, we now also have drone footage of the site from March 25 seen in the linked tweet ImageImage
It's clear that this isn't the only time WarOnFakes has amplified propaganda about Bucha, and there's clear signs that the Russian Government supports those narratives. More seen in our report: info-res.org/post/disinform… and @DeutscheWelle dw.com/en/ukraine-war… ImageImage
@DeutscheWelle Wondering when the domain WarOnFakes.com, or at least the url promoting disinformation on Bucha (waronfakes.com/bucha/?p=121) will be flagged by platforms for false information like the example below.

This thread & report show the info is wrong info-res.org/post/disinform… Image

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More from @BenDoBrown

Dec 18
I have received a number of messages asking about the location of this IL-76 (RA-76502) from Russian Aviacon Zitotrans (usually responsible for arms cargo).

It is not landing in Sudan (alleged in the comments), but is landing in Faya-Largeau in northern Chad. More in thread 👇 Image
I identified an original and more clear version on TikTok (not hard if you want to find it). In it, we can see the registration number of the plane much more clearly, as well as the dune and cliffs in the background.
The registration, RA-76502 that had been owned by JSC Aviacon Zitotrans, named by US as "a Russian cargo airline that has handled cargo shipments for sanctioned Russian Federation defense entities". Image
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Read 4 tweets
Dec 1
This festive season I’m sharing a video every day for the next 24 days showing useful OSINT tools & techniques. Creating this OSINT Advent Series has been a lot of fun and I hope it’s helpful for the ever-growing OSINT community! 🎄👇
1. Searching Facebook with WhoPostedWhat.
2. Using AI to identify a car model in an image with Carnet.
Read 13 tweets
Oct 10
Today is #WorldMentalHealthDay. As digital investigators we're often not experiencing what we see online, in real life, but it can still affect many.

So to keep doing the important documentation and investigative work online, here's a few practical steps you can take.👇
1. When sharing graphic content with colleagues and friends, remove those previews and give a little graphic warning indicator. There's always a little 'X' in the corner to remove preview. Image
2. Consider changing the settings on your social media platforms so you're not absorbing horrific content while doomscrolling. You don't have to filter it out, but at least stop the autoplay. Image
Read 10 tweets
Sep 18
I was recently on a flight across Australia when I spotted this massive figure on the ground. It led me on a digital journey to find out what it was, how it got there and who made it.

I'm going to explain a bit more about what it is in this thread, and how I found out. 👇🧵
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Without internet on the plane, I made a screenshot on my phone of the location (yes it was on flight mode) and later used flight tracking to pinpoint exactly where I saw it.

Using @flightradar24, I traced the path my plane took and found the spot!
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Next stop: @googleearth 🗺️

I zoomed into the area and there it was — this huge humanoid figure etched in the Australian outback. Measuring 2.7km tall and covering an area of more than 1.7 square kilometres, it's a sight to behold.

Here's the location: -29.527084, 137.465400
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Read 8 tweets
Sep 2
Despite our reporting last week on the fake network of pro-Trump MAGA accounts, there appears to be many more accounts actively posting the exact same content. This one, @brenda_otto_ with 18k+ followers, is stealing photos from an Australian Instagram model in Queensland.

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Here's another fake MAGA account, @Tracy_Miller044, stealing images from a fashion blogger (a popular one too).

@Tracy_Miller044 - if you want to reach out and talk about your work, why you're running these campaigns etc, I'm open.
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Here is @Sarah_Hickey__

Sarah is stealing the photos of a Czech Instagram influencer to create a persona claiming to be a MAGA republican conservative with 40k+ followers and a blue tick (which means it's apparently not misleading).

@Safety @GlobalAffairs @elonmusk
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Read 4 tweets
Aug 28
A network of fake accounts are posing as young American women, posting pro-Trump content and disinformation, but they’re hiding behind, and manipulating, the images of European fashion influencers.

Our latest investigation at @Cen4infoRes. Details in this thread 🧵👇 Image
Our full analysis can be seen at @Cen4infoRes here: . We also collaborated with @CNN to dig out the human stories behind those who had their photos stolen

Let's look at the some details below 👇info-res.org/post/unmasking…
edition.cnn.com/2024/08/28/eur…
One of the accounts is Eva. She lives in the US, and likes hanging out at the beach and posting to her 5000+ followers on X. Eva posts strong opinions against LGBTQ people and the US Democratic party and is a loyal supporter of former US president Donald Trump. Image
Read 21 tweets

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