Linus Svensson @its_linus Twitter profile | Pikagi

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Linus Svensson

@its_linus

2,233

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654

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Reporter at Swedish Television’s Verification Unit. Formerly SVT’s Russia Desk.

Stockholm, Sverige

Joined May 2017

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

🧵 Europe Invasion Investigation 1/ We dug into Europe Invasion, a blue tick X account spreading disinformation, xenophobia, and Islamophobia. @elonmusk has boosted it several times, and police say its fake news helped spark the riots in the UK earlier this summer.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

2/ Our findings suggest the account is at least partly driven by financial motives. We traced its digital footprint to two Turkish entrepreneurs in Dubai, whose YouTube channel the account promoted. They claim it's run by an "ad agency"—more on this later.

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Vinstintresse troligen bakom stort främlingsfientligt X-konto

Det stora främlingsfientliga X-kontot Europe Invasion, som spred desinformation om mordet på en flicka i Landskrona, drivs sannolikt i syfte att tjäna pengar. SVT:s granskning av kontots digitala...

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

4/ Using and Botometer, we found the accounts have been repurposed multiple times since March 2023. For example, Europe Invasion was once a cryptocurrency account, while Daily Reports has been a visa business. Both seem to have tweeted mainly in Turkish.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

5/ Then, in February 2024, they scrubbed all their content, switched to English, and began posting xenophobic material. However, some evidence suggests a Turkish-speaking operator was still behind the accounts after this shift.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

3/ Building on the research of @marcowenjones & @sohanDsouza , we also looked at Daily Reports—another account likely run by the same operator. The two accounts have interacted, cross-promoted, and boosted each other frequently.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

18/ Full investigation (in Swedish) below. Might put together an English version later.

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Vinstintresse troligen bakom stort främlingsfientligt X-konto

Det stora främlingsfientliga X-kontot Europe Invasion, som spred desinformation om mordet på en flicka i Landskrona, drivs sannolikt i syfte att tjäna pengar. SVT:s granskning av kontots digitala...

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

6/ For instance, these two tweets with Turkish letters (İ) and the word "tüm" ("all", in English), as well as the auto generated Turkish captions that show up on videos uploaded by both accounts.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

7/ Daily Reports recently rebranded as Algorithm Coach, abruptly shifting its focus from immigration to offering advice on growing and monetizing X accounts. Meanwhile, Europe Invasion boasts about its rapid growth and urges followers to check out Algorithm Coach.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

8/ Here, it's boasting about the amount of money it claims to make from X's ads revenue sharing system.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

12 days

This was obviously a team effort – thanks to @henrikskold82 for some solid work.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

9/ What about the Turkish entrepreneurs I mentioned? After Europe Invasion became an English-language xenophobic account, it posted a video with AI-generated images and a narration by a woman with a Turkish accent, claiming Afghan migrants were "replacing" white Europeans.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

12/ But "Alissa" seems to be a fake name. We found the real LinkedIn profile of the woman. According to that profile, she runs a business with her husband in Dubai.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

17/ While we can't be certain about who runs Europe Invasion, the evidence altogether suggests that it is driven by financial gain, possibly coupled with an ideological motive.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

12/ The channel has just one video, featuring a woman who introduces herself with that name. However, she isn’t discussing immigration—the video focuses on the benefits of living and working in Dubai. Her voice perfectly matches the narration in Europe Invasion's AI video.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

13/ We started looking into the husband, who also claims to run a visa service business that helps Turkish citizens obtain visas to Dubai.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

14/ Interestingly, a previous iteration of Daily Reports/Algorithm Coach shared the same username as the Turkish man's company. An archived version of the profile description confirmed that this account was indeed the X account for that business.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

15/ After we reached out to the couple, the AI-generated video and the post promoting the YouTube channel were deleted. When asked, they denied having any current involvement with the accounts, saying they had hired an ad agency to promote their business on the X accounts.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

11/ Underneath that video was a post promoting a YouTube channel belonging to "Alissa".

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

13 days

16/ We reached out via e-mail to the purported ad agency with an interview request, which it declined. Additionally, we couldn't find any online presence for the agency, so we were unable to verify its existence.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

11 days

UPDATE: 21/ When we first contacted the supposed ad agency in early September, we did receive a response from a "Stefan," who declined our interview request. Notably, his email client was set to Turkish. After I pointed this out today, he switched it to English.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

11 days

UPDATE: 20/ After posting this thread, Europe Invasion responded, presenting itself as run by "Stefan," a Montenegrin of Serbian origin.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

12 days

@tugrulcanelmas @elonmusk Hi! Can you give me a follow so I can send you a DM?

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

6 months

@EliotHiggins ”Truth and uboutelicy”. The site’s logo is deeefinitely not AI-generated.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

11 days

@EuropeInvasionn

@its_linus

Linus Svensson

11 days

UPDATE: 21/ When we first contacted the supposed ad agency in early September, we did receive a response from a "Stefan," who declined our interview request. Notably, his email client was set to Turkish. After I pointed this out today, he switched it to English.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

28 days

@MyLordBebo You’re spreading disinformation, as usual. We talked to the person you claim is a Swede - as a matter of fact he’s Ukrainian

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Video påstås visa svenskar vid ryska attacken mot Poltava

Ryska kanaler fortsätter sprida ryktet om att svenskar dödades i attacken mot Poltava. En ny video som delats flitigt påstår sig visa en svensktalande volontär på plats – men när SVT:s granskning får...

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

7 months

@VictorKvert2008 This is not Kozinka. This is an old video from February.

@simpatico771

SIMPLICIUS Ѱ

8 months

⚡️🇷🇺Interesting new angle with geolocations of a batch of UMPK glidebomb strikes. This series of strikes were not quite on point, lending insight to UMPK module's potential accuracy. The other set was on target, so maybe this location had some jamming or bad coordinates were

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

5 months

This video of “Ukrainian” soldiers burning an effigy of Trump is fake. Still, it has been picked up by media outlets such as the Daily Express and Times of India. 1/?

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

4 months

Doppelgängerkampanjen riktar in sig på EU-valet med uppmaningar om att rösta på ytterhögerpartier. Vår senaste granskning, med data från @antibot4navalny

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Prorysk inblandning: Så vill Ryssland påverka EU-valet till ytterhögerns fördel

En pågående prorysk påverkanskampanj vill underminera regeringar i Europa och gynna ytterkantspartierna inför söndagens EU-val. Det visar SVT:s analys av närmare 2 000 förfalskade artiklar som...

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

11 months

Jag och kollegorna på Rysslandsdesken har vunnit Fojos journalistpris Gyllene bjällran! Otroligt kul.

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SVT:s Rysslandsdesk vinner pris för digital faktagranskning - Medieinstitutet Fojo

Rysslandsdesken på SVT har förärats Medieinstitutet Fojos nyinstiftade journalistpris Gyllene bjällran för grävande journalistik för att "på ett systematiskt sätt ha utnyttjat den senaste fact-chec...

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

9 months

@GlobeEyeNews Nope. You are spreading misinformation again.

@Shayan86

Shayan Sardarizadeh

9 months

This image is being falsely shared as breaking evidence of a reported Houthi attack on a vessel in the Red Sea. The image is from 2019 and unrelated to today's reported attack. It shows the Norwegian-owned Front Altair ship on fire after an attack in the Gulf of Oman.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

10 months

@GlobeEyeNews Also, the video is unrelated. It's from 2016. Source:

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

5 months

Hur gick det till när Eurovision blev måltavla för ett proryskt botnätverk? Och vad har den ryska trädockan ”Matrjosjka” att göra med det hela? Mitt och @LapenkovaSVT senaste jobb, med data från @antibot4navalny

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Lögnen om Eurovision spreds av proryska trollnätverk

Ett proryskt trollnätverk ska lura journalister och faktagranskare att verifiera falska nyheter, med målet att distrahera dem och öka deras arbetsbörda. SVT:s genomgång visar hur lögnerna planteras...

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

11 months

@EliotHiggins @silver_swede @LapenkovaSVT Thank you, Eliot!

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

10 months

@SamDoak5 Congrats!

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

5 months

@svtdataj gjorde ett toppenjobb med att visualisera datan!

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

1 year

Also thanks to @SamDoak5 for pointing me in the right direction!

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

3 years

@AAhronheim Hi Anna, I'm with Aftonbladet, one of Sweden's biggest daily newspaper. May we use this video?

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

10 months

@GlobeEyeNews This is an old video from 2016. Source:

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

1 year

En hotkampanj har inletts mot ryska krigsmotståndare bosatta i Sverige. En lista, där 30 aktivister hängs ut och hotas, delas av ryska krigsbloggare –vissa med hundratusentals följare. Jag pratade med Olesia, en av de drabbade.

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Krigsmotståndare i Sverige hängs ut av ryska krigsbloggare: ”Ni kommer alla att ställas till svars”

Ryska ultranationalistiska medier och bloggare har inlett en hotkampanj mot ryska krigsmotståndare i Sverige. 30 aktivister hängs ut med namn och bild – vissa av bloggarna har hundratusentals...

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

5 months

This wouldn’t be the first time that Russians staged a video of Ukrainian soldiers. An investigation by @geoconfirmed in March last year proved that a video purportedly showing Ukrainian soldiers harassing a woman was filmed on occupied territory - thereby staged. 5/6

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

2 years

Videon påstods visa ukrainska soldater som trakasserade en ryskspråkig kvinna. Men en geolokalisering av @GeoConfirmed (med flera) visar att videon är falsk. Det hela filmades på ryskkontrollerat område.

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

5 months

The video has been watermarked with the Truekha logotype - a Ukrainian Telegram channel (). But we traced the video to a pro-Russian Telegram channel called Ukraina Novosti. 2/?

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Труха⚡️Україна

⚡️Актуальні події України. ✌️З питань реклами: @Tr_PromoUa_bot 👇🏻Надіслати контент: @truexausend_bot Посилання для друзів: https://t.me/+bGpZFNsAYzAxNTli

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

5 months

The channel posted the video at 11:38 local time on May 2, the earliest post we could find. () We couldn’t find the video on the Truekha Telegram channel, so we reached out to the channel’s admin. 3/?

Украина новости

ВСУшники записали видеообращение к Трампу В украинских телеграм-каналах появилось видео с обращением бойцов ВСУ к бывшему президенту США Дональду Трампу: «Обращаемся к Дональду Трампу. Из-за тебя,...

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

1 year

Medan väst skickar stöd för miljarder dollar lever ukrainarna det ljuva livet på Odessas stränder. Det är budskapet i flera videoklipp som sprids, bland annat här på X. Men flera av klippen är inte ens filmade i Ukraina, kan SVT slå fast.

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Falska videoklipp vill skada västs stöd till Ukraina

Medan länder ger Ukraina miljardstöd, lever ukrainare det ljuva livet i Odessa. Det är budskapet som sprids i videoklipp som påstås vara filmade vid stadens stränder – där människor dansar och...

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

4 months

@antibot4navalny @lonnibesancon @svtnyheter Indeed!

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

9 months

@fludLightzon @GlobeEyeNews You could have cross-checked it yourself instead of writing stupid comments on X. Let me Google that image for you:

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

5 months

@Alerivan_ @Cen4infoRes @GeoConfirmed @UAControlMap Fyi, the video is almost two months old (at least).

@GirkinGirkin

IgorGirkin

7 months

Vovchansk

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

6 months

@Dmojavensis Nice work! May I ask, do you use any type of software for doing the analysis?

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

4 months

@LapenkovaSVT @svtdataj

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

3 years

@laautonomica Buenas noches, soy reportero en el periódico sueco @Aftonbladet . Nos darais permiso para emitir el video en nuestro sitio web?

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

1 year

Få en inblick i hur vi på SVT jobbar med bildverifiering i vår krigsbevakning.

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Guide: Så verifierar SVT krigets bilder

Kriget i Ukraina bevakas till stor del på distans och sociala medier är en viktig källa till information. Men där pågår också ett informationskrig, med falska bilder som sprids – ibland i medvetet...

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

5 months

A link to that investigation... And finally, a link to our piece on Swedish Television (in Swedish). 6/6.

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Propagandavideo påstås visa ukrainska soldater som bränner Trumpdocka

”Du är en förrädare som ska betala i blod!” säger den maskerade mannen. Sedan höjer han facklan och tänder eld på en Donald Trumpdocka. Klippet påstås visa ukrainska militärer – men SVT:s kartläggn...

@GeoConfirmed

GeoConfirmed

2 years

GeoConfirmed UKR. "2 Ukrainians stopped a car and fires a gun to scare a women and child." ❌This is not Ukrainian military❌ This video is made 30 km's behind the frontline. Russian disinformation, but geolocation by @PStyle0ne1 is on point and GeoConfirmed. 🧵👇 1/13

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

5 months

We were told that they never posted the video, that someone must have copy-pasted their logo to it, in order to mislead. So what about the actual video, then? Ukrainian speakers tell us that the man in the video speaks broken Ukrainian with a Russian accent. 4/?

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

6 months

@Dmojavensis Ah, thanks for pointing that out!

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

10 months

@GeoConfirmed Do you have a link to the top left corner video?

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

14 days

@simon_krona Stort tack kompis!

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@its_linus

Linus Svensson

6 months

@Dmojavensis Thanks! Will check it out. Tried doing it manually before, after seeing some of your previous work. Was just curious if there was a way of automating it. Also kind of nice feature with the graphics, having the light curve superimposed on the sound curve.

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