Thread by @SohanDsouza

Excellent investigation by @mariannaspring, into the #Southport misinfo "patient zero" X account, and the Potemkin news site that gave the misinfo a veneer of citable legitimacy, used by the far Right to direct the vitriol and riots at UK Muslims.
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

I should point out that said news site is still very much monetized on the ad exchanges.
You can visit it and see the ads to confirm, but here's the full ad scan:
@CheckMyAdsHQwell-known.dev/resources/ads_…

It's also still on X, even while removed from Facebook. Interestingly, it previously went by @fox3news on X, seemingly posing as Fox affiliate. It's unclear when the handle changed, but it was scrubbed around 2024/JAN/23.
@marcowenjones

And @mariannaspring got the site's "verification producer" "Kevin" to admit to buying the YouTube channel. Her report doesn't mention, but "Kevin" probably also bought the "Funny Hours" Facebook Page that @marcowenjones discovered as likewise repurposed.

https://x.com/marcowenjones/status/1818343671559077929

So we have assets across 3 platforms bought and repurposed. And bought from engagement farmers at best, and h@ckers at worst. Yes, I and @marcowenjones discovered many assets in the influence operation we recently investigated ( ) as having been h@cked. sites.google.com/view/theqatarp…

Likewise scrubbed, re-handled, and repurposed are inauthentic accounts in the anti-immigrant/-Muslim ecosystem on X, including some that at least served as sources for content pushed by the influence operation I and @marcowenjones investigated.

https://x.com/SohanDsouza/status/1821534664936366209

All this illustrates a big problem with how platforms allow trading and manipulation of digital assets – often with concealed/unreliable traceability, or traceability left up to data-limited external scraper services – incentivizing a grey market in them.
vox.com/technology/202…

Many such assets are "fattened" using factoid/BS content (now often AI generated) or aggregated/stolen content (usually lowbrow memes and comics with no or unlinked author credit), to sell off to boost/legitimize ad revenue generating or influence operations.

Many are h@cked using imposter platform login pages (hosted on Big Cloud app platforms, but that's another story) sent in fake urgency to the unfortunate unaware, and then also sold on to give buyers' moneymaking or malevolent projects algorithmic weight.

https://x.com/SohanDsouza/status/1710023234903585150

The former are responsible for the growing deluge of trash content algorithmically served on platforms.
The latter are plain criminal.
Both are inauthentic/fraudulent conduct.
And it's about time platforms do something about this.

More about the massive influence operation that I and @marcowenjones investigated, and that contributed to the tinderbox that was lit last week, at [ ].sites.google.com/view/theqatarp…