Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
Gavril Ducu 🇷🇴🇩🇪🇺🇲🇳🇱🇪🇺@🇺🇦 Profile picture
@DucuGavril
Apr 5 • 9 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
Writers of the Storm — Who’s Behind the Kremlin’s Ongoing Narrative Machine

Disinformation doesn’t just appear.
It’s authored.
This series exposes the network—the people, platforms, and tactics behind a coordinated campaign to launder pro-Russian narratives into Western information spaces.

#WritersOfTheStorm #DisinformationNetwork
1. Meet the Network — Storm-1516 and the R-FBI

Fake news sites.
Fake NGOs.
Real people, real reach.
This thread introduces the disinfo infrastructure mapped by Clemson University.

#Storm1516 #InfoOps
2. Narrative Laundering — How Russian Lies Look Like Western News

Why false claims hide inside real headlines.
And how repetition, formatting, and trust mimicry turn propaganda into plausible content.

#NarrativeLaundering #InformationWarfare
3. The New Faces of Influence — From Ex-Cops to Fake Journalists

Profiles of the people fronting the network: Dougan, Bartlett, Beeley, Reade, and more.
Not bots. Not trolls. Real names laundering state narratives.

#DisinfoPurveyors #WritersOfTheStorm
4. R-FBI & the BRICS Journalist Association — Trust Theater at Scale

Fake NGOs pretending to defend rights.
In reality: content hubs for Kremlin talking points.
This is credibility as costume.

#PropagandaInfrastructure #FakeNGOs
5. Viral Lies, Real Impact — How Storm-1516 Hijacked the Zelensky Conversation

From “Cartier-gate” to puppet claims—
This thread shows how the network built and spread false narratives about Zelensky.

#ZelenskyDisinfo #NarrativeVirality
6. Why It Works — Familiar Faces, Familiar Formats, Familiar Lies

Storm-1516 succeeds not by shock, but by comfort.
It feels like journalism.
That’s what lets the lies slip through.

#CognitiveSecurity #DisinformationTactics
📄 Full source:
Writers of the Storm: Who’s Behind the Ongoing Production of Pro-Russian False Narratives - Clemson University Media Forensics Hub (Oct 2024)
🔗 open.clemson.edu/cgi/viewconten…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Gavril Ducu 🇷🇴🇩🇪🇺🇲🇳🇱🇪🇺@🇺🇦

Gavril Ducu 🇷🇴🇩🇪🇺🇲🇳🇱🇪🇺@🇺🇦 Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @DucuGavril

Gavril Ducu 🇷🇴🇩🇪🇺🇲🇳🇱🇪🇺@🇺🇦 Profile picture
Apr 6
From Bikers to Broadcasters — The Night Wolves and Russia’s Cultural Influence Machine

This isn’t a troll farm story.
It’s a story about identity, spectacle, and narrative power.
This series unpacks how the Kremlin uses the Night Wolves biker gang as political micro-influencers—across borders and platforms.

#NightWolves #NarrativeWarfare
1. Meet the Night Wolves — The Kremlin’s Most Loyal Biker Gang

A fringe motorcycle club becomes a state-aligned cultural asset—blending patriotism, performance, and propaganda.

#InfluenceOps
Read 11 tweets
Gavril Ducu 🇷🇴🇩🇪🇺🇲🇳🇱🇪🇺@🇺🇦 Profile picture
Apr 4
Beyond the Ballot: The Psychological Battlefield of Election Trust

Adversaries don’t need to hack votes.
They just need to make you believe the votes don’t matter.
That’s the real front line now:
Not ballots, but belief.

#TrustWarfare #ElectionIntegrity
The FDD memo makes one thing clear:
Foreign election interference has shifted from attacking systems to attacking perception.

Confidence

Legitimacy

Shared reality
That’s the battlefield.
What does that look like?

Doubt before the vote

Outrage during the count
Cynicism after the result
The goal is to make the process feel broken—regardless of whether it was.
Read 16 tweets
Gavril Ducu 🇷🇴🇩🇪🇺🇲🇳🇱🇪🇺@🇺🇦 Profile picture
Apr 4
China’s Strategic Patience: Eroding U.S. Trust Without Taking Credit

China’s election interference strategy is quieter than Russia’s subtler than Iran’s but no less real
It works by amplifying U.S. dysfunction—not inventing it
And targets what China cares about most: perception
#ChinaNarrativeOps #DisinfoByDesign

The FDD memo puts it plainly:
China’s disinformation aims to:
Undermine confidence in U.S. democracy
Deflect criticism of China

Promote authoritarian stability as a contrast to “Western chaos”
Unlike Russia or Iran, China doesn’t often create fake U.S. identities.
Instead, it uses:

State media outlets
Proxy influencers
Bots and comment armies

Its voice is official, even when masked.
Read 16 tweets
Gavril Ducu 🇷🇴🇩🇪🇺🇲🇳🇱🇪🇺@🇺🇦 Profile picture
Apr 4
Russia’s Roadmap for Chaos: From the IRA to Today’s Influence Networks
Russia didn’t stop after 2016.
It learned.
Adapted.
And refined its election interference strategy into a long-term psychological campaign.
Here’s how it works—and why it still does.
#RussiaDisinfo #ElectionInterference

Russia’s goal isn’t to help a candidate win.
It’s to make voters lose faith—
In the system
In the media
In each other
As the FDD memo puts it: “Russia aims to destabilize democracy by undermining belief in electoral legitimacy.”
The model dates back to the Internet Research Agency (IRA), active in 2016.

Fake American personas

Emotionally charged content

Focus on race, identity, and fraud
It wasn’t hacking. It was narrative warfare.
Read 18 tweets
Gavril Ducu 🇷🇴🇩🇪🇺🇲🇳🇱🇪🇺@🇺🇦 Profile picture
Apr 3
Media literacy works.
But not forever.

One study gave people tips to spot fake news—
It boosted their skills immediately
But within 3 weeks, the effect had dropped by half

This thread breaks down why disinfo resistance fades

#SpotTheFakeSeries
Quick recap

The intervention was simple:
Participants read 10 “Tips to Spot False News”
Then rated headlines as true or false
It worked—discernment shot up

But how long did the effect last?
In the US, they followed up after 2–5 weeks

Participants took the same test again
— No additional tips
— No reminders
Just a second round to measure retention

The result? A sharp decline
Read 15 tweets
Gavril Ducu 🇷🇴🇩🇪🇺🇲🇳🇱🇪🇺@🇺🇦 Profile picture
Apr 1
In an era where misinformation and propaganda run rampant, the manipulation of perception is no accident.

nafoforum.org/magazine/perce…
Disinformation campaigns do not merely spread falsehoods; they engage in percepticide—the deliberate erasure of reality—and perspecticide—the systematic destruction of independent thought.
These tactics extend far beyond the realm of free speech; they are weapons of coercive control, engineered to dismantle democratic processes and manipulate public consciousness at an unprecedented scale.
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(