Marc Owen Jones Profile picture
Aug 5 7 tweets 3 min read Read on X
🧵🚨1/ It's insane that @Elonmusk replied to @europeinvasionn's tweet about UK riots. The account EuropeInvasionn, as I have stated many times now, is an influence operation. It's a hijacked X account that exclusively deals in anti-migrant & anti-Muslim great replacement disinfo

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2/ EuropeInvasion was the most influential account spreading the false news that the attacker in #Southport was a Muslim. Arguably one of the biggest vectors in the disinfo potentially contributing to the violence in the UK
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3/ A day later, it was the most widely shared account spreading an unsubstantiated and unfounded rumour that a murder in Ipswich was conducted by a Somali immigrant. Image
4/ It has 387k followers and has only been tweeting since February. It used to be an account with the handle @makcanerkripto. It was event suspended briefly by Twitter last month but reinstated.
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5/ Musk also replies to the likes of @visegrad24 and @radiogenoa - similar accounts spreading racist bigotry. That Musk seems to think there will be civil war in UK or Europe is either because he follows such accounts, or because that's a narrative he is keen to promote Image
6/ And by 'insane' I don't mean 'surprising', I mean it's absurd that he can do this and continue to get away with being a race baiting bigot.
7/ And in this particular case, why this account. How did he come across it, or was he presented it? Understanding this would be important.

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More from @marcowenjones

Aug 6
PSA: I wasn't going to indulge this but thought it was an opportunity for some important media literacy. @Artemisfornow - who is the first person documented to use the fake name 'Ali Al Shakati' to describe the #Southport killer, is claiming she copied the post from FB Image
2/ She is claiming a post on Facebook posted at 11.26 used the name Ali Al Shakati, before she posted it on X. Bernie posted her original tweet at 4.49 UK time. However, the Facebook post she mentions was sent at 7.26 UK time. So why the 11.26? Image
3/ This is just how browsers resolve time diffs. As these screenshots show, if you look at a FB post without logging it will give you the default time zone, which is UTC-8 or Pacific Standard Time. If you login it resolves to local time. See for yourself facebook.com/Adebimpeademej…
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Read 5 tweets
Aug 5
1/🧵🚨New analysis!

How much did Musk's "civil war is inevitable' reply to a tweet spreading #disinformation boost the original tweet?

TLDR: A reply from Musk will boost racist disinformation.

#UkRiots
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2/ On Aug 4 at 00.45 UTC the account @stclairashley retweeted a @libsoftiktok video with a false and xenophobic remark about immigration - attributing violence in UK to open borders (there aren't open borders). Musk replies at 03.07 UTC saying "Civil war is inevitable" Image
3/ The below graph shows the number of retweets over time. In green, are the retweets of @stclairashley's tweet BEFORE Musk replied. The orange tweets are the retweets AFTER Musk replies. Note the DRAMATIC increase in retweets of @stclairashley's tweet after Musk's intervention Image
Read 6 tweets
Aug 4
1/ 🧵Just did a network analysis of the "far right thugs unite" hashtag. It largely seems to be a simulated scandal/outrage to promote the Reform Party and Nigel Farage and - while also being an attack on Keir Starmer. Image
2) The campaign is ostensibly a reaction to Starmer saying that the recent riots have been conducted by a 'tiny minority' of 'thugs'. He has also blamed the far right, although he never used the term 'far right thugs'. In fact, as we'll see later, this term was used by Farage. Image
3/ Starmer is the largest node in the network as many people are tagging him to express solidarity with the 'far right'. This is based on the false accusation that Starmer somehow called 'ordinary brits' far right thugs - which he didn't. #disinformation Image
Read 18 tweets
Aug 2
1/ 🧵There is another anti-immigrant, racist and unsubstantiated rumour being circulated online about the tragic stabbing of a woman in #Brantham, UK. I just wanted to provide some analysis of the emergence of this rumour, and the protagonists and sequence of the story. #SouthportImage
2/ The known facts. A woman called Anita Rose was tragically stabbed and killed as as she walked her dog on Wednesday 24th July. A number of people have been arrested in the course of the investigations. Apart from age and sex, no other information has been publicly shared. Image
3/ Cue a pro-Trump account on Jul 30 says without basis that a 'Somali' man was arrested. She links to an @Daily_Express article about the murder but the article does not mention the ethnicity of the murderer. Image
Read 14 tweets
Jul 30
🧵1/ Thread on the #Southport anti-migrant and anti-Muslim disinformation and propaganda. In this thread I highlight key spreaders of disinformation, the chronology, and some points about some of the inauthentic activity evident. I will focus on X. Image
2/ First. What we know so far. The attacker 17 was, born in Cardiff, but moved to near Southport. There's no indication of his religion, and his parents have been reported as being from Rwanda (although again questionable why this is relevant). The rest is speculation #southport
3/ Firstly, there were at least 27 million impressions for posts stating or speculating that the attacker was Muslim, a migrant, refugee or foreigner. There were people also denouncing these speculations - especially the more racist ones. Image
Read 24 tweets
Jul 8
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
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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.
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Read 14 tweets

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