1/ Yesterday a couple of news channels, including @ESPNFC reported on a #Bundesliga game where people unfurled a flag in protest of the Qatar World Cup. It said '15,000 deaths for 5,760 minutes of football - shame on you”. This is a history of where that 15000 figure came from
2/ Firstly, the 15,000 figure comes from Amnesty. It's the total number of deaths of all non-Qataris of all ages and all causes between 2010 and 2019 - not excess deaths. This mortality rate actually is quite low. See this thread >
3/ The 15,000 number originated in around August 2021, in this important report about poor death reporting and failing to investigate unexplained deaths. amnesty.org/en/latest/news…
4/ It was only in December 2021 that the figure was picked up, by German outlet @sportstudio , but it was periodically resurrected, getting highly retweeted in March 2022 and August 2022. Yesterday, it went viral again partly thanks to @ESPNFC . What's interesting is
5/ the trend was originally mostly confined to German. As the graph below shows, most of tweets using the figure in European languages were German (orange). Only yesterday did it seem to break out into Spanish and English (green)
6/ Of course, while the figure is itself misleading, it was also re-interpreted as 15,000 people dying while building the stadiums, or simply as an excess death statistic - which it is not. See below for example >
7/ Below, some of the most influential accounts spreading this misleading and sensationalist news story are well-established sporting news outlets including @ESPNFC and @sportstudio
8/ I did a similar thread about another misleading figure (6,500 deaths) that you can see here. While the '15,000' appears to be less widespread, it has persisted over the past year and is now breaking out beyond the German press
9/ So while a lot of European media continues its inexplicably poor reporting, I'd recommend reading this by @vanish_forever - an incredible (and sobering) review of the past ten years migrant-rights.org/2022/11/worker… .
10/ Poor death reporting in Qatar and confusing statistics make occupational death numbers difficult to come by, but the ILO so far have perhaps the most accurate analysis ilo.org/global/about-t…
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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.