Our thoughts are with the victims and their families affected by the appalling events in Southport.

🔍 Investigating Disinformation
Logically has been investigating the disinformation surrounding this tragic incident. Our findings indicate likely Russian efforts to exploit ethnic divisions, an active far-right conspiracist overlap in the UK, and the knife attack on 29th July 2024 as a specific flashpoint. (1/7) 🚨 Key Findings:
Our investigation concludes that initial organic anti-migrant rhetoric set the scene for an operation using a bogus news website to recirculate a false name of the suspect, exacerbating anti-Muslim sentiment in the UK. This mirrors known Russian influence efforts predating the Internet. (2/6)

New research from Logically has found 222,713 unique member accounts in U.K. Telegram COVID conspiracy chats, or 0.32 percent of the country's population. Only about 20 percent of these accounts actively participate in the chat.

logically.ai/articles/the-s… Logically found 427 Telegram groups and channels arranged into 13 distinct "hub and satellite" networks based around various COVID conspiracy campaigns. Hub networks form national centralized chats, while smaller regional satellites are linked to hubs.

Today The Guardian reported on the Net Zero Scrutiny Group of MPs. Campaigners have said that the NZSG overstates the cost of net zero to derail green policy. Logically's @RachelMullerH reported on the group and its lobbying efforts in October.

logically.ai/articles/doubl… Founded by Nigel Lawson and chaired by MP Craig Mackinlay, NZSG members say they don't deny climate science. They're best described as “lukewarmers” who downplay the seriousness of climate change, as @ret_ward, who raised the alarm on the group in 2014, explained.

A Logically investigation has identified the man behind “GhostEzra,” responsible for running the largest QAnon channel on Telegram and spreading increasingly extreme antisemitic propaganda.
logically.ai/articles/exclu… As part of our work countering harmful misinformation, Logically researches those who play an outsized role in spreading it. By identifying those leveraging anonymity to supercharge misinformation and hate speech, we hope to restore the accountability that bad actors evade.

During an address from the White House on Monday, President Biden defended his position to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan. We fact checked Biden’s speech, and found some of his statements misleading. MISLEADING: The U.S. trained and equipped an Afghan military force of some 300,000 strong. logically.ai/factchecks/lib…

Chat logs obtained by Logically can reveal that HART, a UK group of lockdown-skeptic activists and health professionals, has coordinated efforts to spread misinformation and lobby MPs, aiming to “wrestle control back from SAGE.” logically.ai/articles/hart-… The group launders “polished” versions of pandemic conspiracy narratives to MPs, journalists and the public, relying on misrepresentations of official statistics or science, while concealing the origins and coordination of these narratives to make them appear organic.

A thread about Patreon and QAnon: Despite releasing a statement promising to tackle the problem of creators using Patreon to monetise disinformation, the subscription website is still allowing QAnon conspiracy theories to spread on its platform. Since the announcement, Patreon purged some Q creators; but not all of them. We identified more than 15 active creators monetising QAnon content on Patreon and took a deep dive into two accounts run by well-known Q influencers. We have also alerted Patreon to these accounts.

Logically investigators have uncovered ties between a QAnon publisher whose sole author called for Pence’s arrest on Jan 6th, and Robert Cornero, a former screenwriter from New Jersey. More from @nickbackovic:

logically.ai/articles/exclu… Neon Revolt has close ties to former 8kun admin turned right-wing pundit Ron Watkins. On Jan 6th, before Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol, Neon Revolt stoked the flames of dissent, posting a call for the “immediate arrest” of Vice President Mike Pence.