@AtlanticCouncil
's Digital Forensic Research Lab. Cultivating a global network of digital forensic analysts (
#DigitalSherlocks
) to combat disinformation.
1/5 🇲🇩 Moldova at a turning point: What you need to know ahead of October 20. As
#Moldova
approaches its crucial referendum, the stakes are incredibly high for both the country and the region. Here's what
@DFRLab
has uncovered 👇
The Nigerian Army denied reports that soldiers opened fire against peaceful protestors during an incident on October 20. Despite extensive evidence to the contrary, the army’s labeled several local and international publications reporting as “fake news.”
A
#Toronto
-based PR firm created a network of websites impersonating domestic media outlets that engaged in "fact-checking." Articles from their sites manipulated public perception in favor of
#India
and
#Modi
's
#BJP
government on a range of policies.
Since the start of
#Ethiopia
's civil war in 2020, social media has been awash with calls for violence against specific ethnic groups, including those from
#Tigray
. In response, social media platforms have boosted their efforts to remove hateful content.
Russian media actively promoted false flag narratives portraying the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics as victims of Ukrainian aggression.
See the 10 debunked narratives:
Incredibly thorough and revealing investigation by
@DisinfoEU
on Indian Chronicles use of fake accounts of influential global figures (some dead) and
#disinformation
to undermine Pakistan. Read the report and this in-depth thread. 🧵⬇️
REVEALED: Indian Chronicles – how a massive 15-year influence operation successfully targeted the EU & UN with 750+ fake local media and 10+ zombie-NGOs.
Executive Summary & full report:
Here are the facts 👇 (1/n)
🚨BREAKING:
@Twitter
just released "full, comprehensive archives" of tweets from Russian and Iranian troll farms.
@DFRlab
had a brief advance opportunity to analyze the nearly complete archive. Here's what we know:
The insurrectionist attack on the US Capitol was not spontaneous.
@dfrlab
&
@just_security
are publishing the most comprehensive report to date on the “Stop the Steal” campaign, spanning from the 2016 primaries to the Capitol in 2021. 🧵⬇️
(1/2): Yesterday, Matt Taibbi released his most recent “Twitter Files” installment. In it, he named
@DFRLab
. His coverage gets much wrong, misinterprets events, and fails to incorporate our responses.
Read our full statement here:
After
@DFRLab
discovered a small inauthentic network on
@Facebook
promoting posts critical of Western sanctions against
#Russia
, an independent
@Meta
investigation revealed a larger network of 2300+ assets promoting Kremlin interests across Europe. 🧵⬇️
The reason we know so much about the Russian information operations which targeted the United States from 2014 to 2017 is that some Russian journalists are very good at their jobs.
Of note, Taibbi reported Senior Director Graham Brookie of not responding to his requests for information. Brookie answered all of Taibbi’s emails throughout his reporting, the last response nearly a full day prior to his publication.
Russia is spinning new and recycled narratives to claim that Ukraine is re-selling French weapon systems on the black market and they are ending up in Russian hands.
@DFRlab
retraces steps from the Kremlin playbook on how to amplify a false claim🔍
The DFRLab just released an in-depth report uncovering a suspected Russian intelligence operation across digital platforms — get the top takeaways here:
.
@dfrlab
identified 25+ accounts on X partaking in coordinated spread of copypasta messages about Israel-Palestine conflict. Initially they focused on Indian topics, but have now adopted divisive content, switching support between Israel and Palestine.
On Monday,
#Russia
indiscriminately shelled
#Ukraine
’s second largest city,
#Kharkiv
, in an attack that claimed at least 11 civilian lives and wounding many more.
@DFRLab
's
@Michael1Sheldon
geolocated the areas of the city hit by Russian arms:
Pro-Kremlin media falsely reported that European countries would deport Ukrainian refugees to serve in the military, including forged letters "written" by Ukraine’s ambassadors to Latvia and Lithuania.
@DFRLab
previously investigated a similar campaign:
BREAKING:
@facebook
and
@Twitter
just removed a number of accounts for "coordinated inauthentic behavior" deemed to be from Iran.
@DFRLab
took an exclusive look at 97 pages. Here's what we know:
Our researchers
@estebanpdl
and
@DanielSuarezPer
looked at 19,000 tweets and found that the most active accounts showed bot-like features, pushing narratives to support the Maduro position against the democratic elections.
Read the full story:
We're proud to share an incredible project our team has been working on for months. The Foreign Interference Attribution Tracker is an open-source database that captures allegations of foreign interference relevant to the 2020 election.
#interference2020
"One would think that after these same communities inspired repeated mass shootings and criminal actions that legislators and tech platforms would consider a proactive approach to disinformation and extremism. But they haven’t." From
@DFRLab
's
@jaredlholt
:
Over the last 24 hours, our team has produced an analysis of the pages implicated in an influence operation recently uncovered by
@facebook
.
Our
#TrollTracker
scan shows patterns reminiscent of the troll operations run from Russia in 2014 through 2017:
Facebook removed 41 Facebook accounts, 77 Pages, and 56 Instagram accounts for, “violating policy against foreign interference on behalf of a foreign or government entity.” Activity originated in
#Canada
and
#Ecuador
and focused on much of South America:
The
#Kremlin
again accused
#Ukraine
, without evidence, of developing dirty bombs and biological weapons. Meanwhile
#TikTok
will ban Russian users from uploading content and
#Telegram
’s founder speaks out. This and more in today’s
#RussianWarReport
🇷🇺 🧵⬇️:
In August, the DFRLab uncovered a pro-Kremlin network promoting narratives in across western Europe that led to the discovery of an *even larger* network consisting of 1,633 accounts, 703 pages, 29 Instagram profiles, and one Facebook group.
Press Monitor, a Canadian PR firm, built a website presenting itself as an Indian media outlet & fact-checking site, to promote narratives supporting the Indian government. Content from the site was amplified by over 50 Indian diplomatic accounts.
@DfrKaul
A
@DFRLab
analysis of three state controlled media networks found that following a change in
@Twitter
's policy on the promotion of state affiliated media accounts, the once hemorrhaging accounts saw a dramatic uptick in followers.
@AlyssaKann
reports 🧵👇
TUESDAY | MAY 30
Join
@DFRLab
for a discussion on Telegram, WeChat, and WhatsApp usage in the US and how mis- and disinformation narratives spread on messaging apps.
Ft.
@NSC
,
@robertfabricant
, Connie Moon Sehat,
@Riana_Crypto
, and Wafa Ben-Hassine. RSVP:
REPORT ALERT🚨 We're excited to announce, "Another Battlefield: Telegram as a Digital Front in Russia’s War Against Ukraine." This year-long research project delves into Telegram's crucial role in Russia's information warfare against Ukraine. Read more:
Through our analysis,
@DFRLab
was able to corroborate many of the connections between the assets involved. Moreover, the assets were clearly linked to former government employees in Ecuador with ties to the administration of former president Rafael Correa.
#FacebookTakedown
During our discussion about disinformation from the war between Israel and Hamas,
@Shayan86
explained how social media has gone from early days of engagement farming to full information warfare between official Israeli and pro-Hamas accounts.
Full event:
🇺🇦
#MinskMonitor
: The
#DigitalSherlocks
found two photographs depicting a newly-produced
#Russian
satellite communications module in non-government-controlled eastern
#Ukraine
. This finding marks the second known combat deployment of this system.
#BreakingGhouta
This investigation reveals the deliberate destruction of eastern Ghouta, Syria. The evidence won't let us forget. Read the full report here:
Our colleague
@DfrKaul
explains how Press Monitor International created the site India Vs Disinformation to publish articles to target the Indian governments' political opponents as well as local and international media for their allegedly biased coverage of domestic affairs.
@DFRLab
and
@BBC
Verify released joint reports on our uncovering of the largest information operation *ever* discovered on TikTok. The Russian influence operation spanned thousands of accounts and likely garnered millions of views. Keep reading for more.
As the protests around
#MashaAmini
continue and grow, the Iranian government's crackdown on internet access and protestors themselves has been harsh.
Enter decentralized hacktivist collective
#Anonymous
and
#Oplran
:
The
@DFRLab
is monitoring the ongoing violence and protests at the Capitol. If you see any instances of calls to violence, coordination of further activity, or related disinformation please forward via DM.
Update:
@DFRLab
is actively monitoring the events in Washington, DC.
We will not be posting publicly, in order to avoid unnecessary amplification, but rather verifying and forwarding to the appropriate authorities.
1/
The Proud Americans Patriot Network (PAPN) presents as a mundane conservative nonprofit with 501c4 registration. But its digital history ties it to the the Three Percenters movement and unlawful militias online. From
@jaredlholt
🧵👇:
TUESDAY at 1:00 PM ET | Join this critical discussion examining the relationship between law enforcement, the military, and domestic violent extremist groups in the US.
Feat. experts from
@GeorgetownICAP
,
@DFRLab
,
@CardinalPoint1
, and
@ltgrusselhonore
:
In early January, video footage emerged on social media of military equipment moving from
#Russia
’s Far East westward toward
#Ukraine
.
@Michael1Sheldon
breaks down the latest
#OSINT
evidence on Russia’s ominous move. 🧵⬇️
The
@DFRLab
is proud to release this exhaustive report on information environments in
#China
, the
#US
,
#Russia
, and
#Iran
at the start of
#COVID19
focusing on unverified and false narratives about the virus and the consequences thereof. 🧵⬇️
Logical fallacies fuel Kremlin disinformation.
How the Kremlin and its disinformation networks use logical fallacies to dismiss, dismay, distract, and distort:
Russia’s information campaign in 2016 penetrated an unprepared information space. The challenge is to make the America of 2018 more resilient.
Our latest
#ElectionWatch
:
With only a month to go until the Italian Elections we are dispatching our
#DigitalSherlocks
to Italy to expose, explain, and educate about disinformation on the ground. Stay engaged using
#ElectionWatch
.
Read our latest
#Italy
dispatch:
#Elezioni2018
Eritrean officials promoted a report filled with "fact-checking" tropes meant to dismiss evidence of violence in
#Tigray
as an international
#disinformation
campaign. The report has been shared widely by prominent pro-
#Eritrea
gov. connected accounts.
While efforts to wrangle the COVID-19 outbreak continue, the World Health Org is contending with another type of viral spread in the form of conservative American politicians stigmatizing Chinese people for political gain. We decided to track its spread.
The
@DFRLab
confirmed Russia has intensified its air power in recent weeks. Satellite imagery indicated Russia’s air force have increased aerial activity in Crimea.
A network of 112 pro-Maduro Twitter accounts coordinated to amplify anti-Guaidó hashtags in the aftermath of
#Venezuela
’s
@AsambleaVE
#elections
on January 5.
SUNDAY READ:
@DFRLab
investigates the latest criminal complaint filed by
@TheJusticeDept
against Russia's Internet Research Agency (St. Petersburg Troll Factory) chief account.
The complaint offers new detail on the operation's funding and sophistication.
NEW: It’s a been a year since the
#CapitolRiot
. Read the
@DFRLab
’s
@jaredlholt
’s in-depth report examining how domestic extremist movements in the US have evolved since the Capitol attack on
#January6th
. 🧵⬇️
#Facebook
removed 66 user accounts, 63 pages, five groups and 25
#Instagram
accounts connected to Honoré Mvula, a politician from the Democratic Republic of Congo (
#DRC
), and his political organization, the Force des Patriotes (
#FP
). Read report:
🚨 BIG NEWS ALERT 🚨
@DFRLab
is proud to announce the launch of our Democracy & Tech Initiative!
The initiative will center human rights and democracy in
#tech
and policy debates. The need for an actionable democratic approach has never been greater.
Facebook also removed 35 Facebook accounts, 14 Pages, 1 Group and 38 Instagram accounts linked to coordinated inauthentic behavior in
#Brazil
that focused on domestic audiences.
#FacebookTakedown
Guess who is spreading "false flag" claims on the April 8 chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime in Syria:
✅ Kremlin supporters
✅ Assad supporters
✅ Far right on both sides of the Atlantic
We investigate the convergence in
#PutinAtWar
:
#360DigitalSherlocks
applications are OPEN.🔍
Join our Spring cohort to learn from our global team on sessions ranging from
#geolocation
, to social media listening, to investigating online
#extremism
, and so much more!
🚨 DEADLINE: February 28 🚨
Accusations of being a “Russian troll” have proliferated online, often without basis.
This can do more harm than good, obscuring ways in which trolls can really be identified and increasing online polarization.
Our latest
#TrollTracker
👹:
.
@Google
,
@Meta
, and
@Twitter
all took action against Russian state-owned media accounts to limit the spread of harmful info online. Meanwhile,
#Russia
has continued to escalate its crackdown on independent media. New
#RussianHybridWarReport
🇷🇺 out now🧵⬇️
In an effort to curb Russian influence in the region, the Baltic states have taken steps to restrict Kremlin-owned media outlets. In July 2019,
#Latvia
suspended the domain name of one of these outlets –
@NikaAleksejeva
explored what happened:
APPLY NOW! We’re accepting applications from students, independent journalists, and members of civil society to join
@DFRLab
’s
#360DigitalSherlocks
professional development program!
NEW: Facebook has removed more than 1,700 assets linked to two Egyptian digital marketing firms targeting audiences in Middle East and North Africa. Here's our EXCLUSIVE look at the assets that were deleted.
In the US,
#Telegram
has become popular with far-right groups thanks in part to extremists’ exodus from “mainstream” platforms. This new study from
@NSC
and
@estebanpdl
examines the political dynamics of these fringe Telegram communities in the US.🧵(1/10)
We have seen repeated sharing of a headline from "ObamaWatcher" claiming the Obama Foundation owns ballot printers. This is false. ObamaWatcher is part of a "network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery" and the article was posted as satire.
The paramilitaries of citizens, including
#KyleRittenhouse
, that arrived armed in
#Kenosha
were a harbinger of political violence to come, including "Stop the Steal" rallies and
#January6th
says
@acarvin
.
A violent religious nationalist cult in
#India
is using
@Facebook
to amplify hostile narratives targeting minorities in India to millions of its followers online. Read
@dfrkaul
’s latest. 🧵⬇️
The
@2020partnership
worked for months to bring you, “The Long Fuse: Misinformation in the 2020 Election,” a comprehensive report tracking mis- and
#disinformation
in the 2020
#election
.
Now hear from the researchers themselves. Don't miss out! RSVP here:
In June, we launched the Democracy & Tech Initiative led by
@rosejackson3
. This initiative creates policy practices that align global stakeholders toward tech and governance that reinforces open societies. Over the next 2 weeks, you'll meet our experts.🧵
The individuals who perpetrated this attack will be mythologized as heroes among future extremists. A generation of far-right recruits too young to have participated will spend their lives dreaming of again seizing the U.S. Capitol.
Op-Ed from
@etbrooking
:
As we head into
#ElectionDay
, remember that
#disinformation
is rampant and meant to undermine your confidence in the election. If you run into something you think might be disinformation, remember these handy tips from
@CISAgov
:
On May 27,
@Facebook
removed 168 assets linked to
#Russia
’s Internet Research Agency (
#IRA
) in
#Sudan
that promoted pro-Russia content. In particular, the pages focused oligarch Yevgeny
#Prigozhin
and the benefits of a Russian military base in Port Sudan.
On Thursday, Facebook removed a network of Russian propaganda assets engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior including some associated with Russian intelligence services. The network amplified the Strategic Culture Foundation.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, Telegram has emerged as a significant information battlefield where pro-Kremlin actors spread disinformation and propaganda. In Russia, *9 of the 10* most popular political Telegram channels spread Kremlin pro-war narratives.
Despite organizers' claims to the contrary,
@DFRLab
found the tactics used to plan and promote the anti-
#vaccine
mandate march in
#DC
involved the engagement of hyperpartisan right-wing and conspiratorial anti-vax audiences.
From
@maxbrizzuto
/
@jaredlholt
:
.
@statedeptspox
: We’ve seen
#Russia
again and again misinform, use disinformation, claiming that little green men went into Ukraine, denying responsibility for the downing of MH17. Russia is known for its disinformation campaigns.