In collaboration with
@ISGAP1
, our report highlighted by
@bariweiss
reveals US colleges failed to disclose $13B in foreign funding from 2015-2020.
Qatar is the largest single contributor.
Evidence suggests that bad actors are trying to test the limits on
@Twitter
. Several posts on 4chan encourage users to amplify derogatory slurs.
For example, over the last 12 hours, the use of the n-word has increased nearly 500% from the previous average.
NCRI’s latest paper on “Anti-Hindu Disinformation: A Case Study of Hinduphobia on Social Media.” was released today on KQED/NPR
Rutgers Press Release:
KQED report:
A 🧵 on our findings:
@prasiddhaa_
@parthparihar
@rachaelmyrow
TikTok's Global Platform Anomalies Align with the Chinese Communist Party's Geostrategic Objectives
In collaboration +
@RutgersU
, our report takes a data-driven approach: Does TikTok promote or demote content on the basis of CCP interests?
Short answer: It certainly seems so🧵
THREAD:
NCRI is finding evidence of planning behind the recent storming of the Capitol Building. Evidence includes this image, found on Facebook in groups with over 150k followers, the Trump Train in late Dec. Posts were also detected on Twitter and 8chan.
“Hinduphobic tropes — such as the portrayal of Hindus as fundamentally heretical evil, dirty, tyrannical, genocidal, irredeemable or disloyal— are prominent across the ideological spectrum and are being deployed by fringe web communities and state actors alike.”
Below are memes associated with pajeet found on Twitter, openly calling to violently kill Hindus. Extremists use memes to suggest a repeat of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Nazi style executions & co-opt the murder of George Floyd to suggest the same should be done to Hindus.
Anti-Hindu Disinformation is masked through the use of ethnic pejoratives, slurs and coded language. Here's an example of a meme associated with Hindus titled “Poo in the Loo” using the antisemitic Happy Merchant Meme. This shows how ethnic hates share effective memetic material
White Supremacist & Islamist communities refer to Indians as “pajeets” on fringe web platforms (4chan, gab). This is rapidly growing on mainstream communities too, including
The latest
@ncri_io
report featured by
@washingtonpost
sheds light on “Inauthentic, cyber activity from Khalistani extremist accounts precedes and amplifies attacks on Hindu temples and Indian government buildings”
🧵 on our findings + link to full report
Our qualitative analysis suggests that pajeet is used in reference to Hindus & Indians interchangeably, with majority of derogatory characterizations targeted towards Hindus. Distinctly Hindu symbols are used in memes referencing pajeet, and not other Indian religions.
In addition to extremist groups and fringe web communities, state actors also deploy anti-Hindu tropes as part of information operations for geopolitical influence. We uncovered an influence operation by state sponsored Iranian trolls who pretended to be Pakistani users.
The Chabad Synagogue shooter in 2019, had referenced “pajeets” in the manifesto. It has also been used in white nationalist podcasts about murderous fantasies about Indians
We call on platforms to recognize the growing ethnic disinformation and the harmful impacts this can have on Hindu communities. This is essential for better detection.
During the March 2017 Bhopal–Ujjain Passenger train bombing by ISIS, Iranian trolls, pretending to be Pakistani, attempted a disinformation campaign to suggest that the attack was done by “Hindu Extremists,” and attempted to get it trending.
The NCRI is calling for the creation of an independent public trust to defend democracy from extremism and conspiracy theories. This is a contagion and we need new thinking and solutions for information sharing and transparency to combat a growing epidemic of disinformation.
The NCRI is monitoring a prolific surge in anti-Jewish rhetoric on
@Twitter
.
Terms associated with Jew are being tweeted over 5k times per hour. The most engaged tweets are overtly antisemitic.
This is of concern. Online hate is an upstream predictor of real-world violence.
Thanks
@bbcworldservice
for featuring NCRI's research on
#hinduphobia
with
@Eagleton_RU
in a full length radio documentary on the BBC today. Our analysis shows Hinduphobia is growing rapidly, and education/awareness are crucial to combat it.
NCRI research on DoED disclosures on reported foreign funding showed that 2.2 $Billion in reported Qatari funds disappeared with no explanation from the schools below. Without greater transparency, Universities will become a key national security risk for information warfare.
It’s like we have all feared…
A new report from
@ncri_io
shows that the Wahhabi state of Qatar has been pumping billions of dollars into American universities.
The reports shows it has become much more difficult to track the money in recent years.
Full report in the comments
The rate of growth of Kanye’s follower count nearly doubled after DEFCON tweet
Toxic (
@Jigsaw
) tweets mentioning ‘Jew’ tripled since
🧵NCRI analysis Kanye, Kyrie and Contamination - Jewish Hatred Superspreader Event on Social Media.
In partnership w/
@CombatASemitism
NCRI's research, featured in the
@washingtonpost
, exposes Khalistani bot networks engaging in coordinated inauthentic activity to promote violence and vandalism, underlining real-world safety concerns.
Read
@josephmenn
's article here:
NCRI has previously warned about the militarization of QAnon in April of 2020 showing increases in their adoption of terms such QArmy and military paraphernalia, much of which was on display in DC.
Malicious Narratives around “Hindutva Dominance” Underscored Cyber Swarming activity - recruit followers from the virtual world to mobilize into real world protests and violence in Leicester.
NCRI developed a timeline describing notable events and malicious narratives.
Malicious online narratives, many since deleted, played an essential role in instigating attacks in Leicester.
THREAD:
The NCRI finds large increases in antisemitic disinformation now trending across social media sites, including Reddit and Twitter (below, NCRI seeking to fill data gap now).
Given the research above, we assess a strong possibility that content on TikTok is either amplified or suppressed based on its alignment with the interests of the Chinese Government.
Anti-Hindu Attacks against a sitting U.S. Lawmaker
OpEd from
@eagleton_ru
’s director John Farmer featured in
@thehill
:
NCRI’s Anti-Hindu Disinformation piece was cited. An update 🧵
Our report found that social media platforms were central to agitation and fomenting real world violence against vulnerable populations in the U.K.
In this thread, we use machine learning, natural language processing, network analysis, OSINT and classification to investigate.
Other topics sensitive to China domestically, the ratios exhibited anomalies:
🔥Tibet - 38x Instagram vs TikTok
🔥HongKong - 181x Instagram vs TikTok
🔥Tiananmen - 82x Instagram vs TikTok
🔥South China Sea - 21x Instagram vs TikTok
🔥Taiwan - 15x Instagram vs TikTok
NCRI's Assessment on the events of Jan 6.
Thanks to John Farmer, Chief Council to the 9-11 Commission, Denver Riggleman, Chief Strategist at NCRI and Brian Harrell, former Asst Sec of CISA at DHS for their contributions.
@RepRiggleman
@gridsecure
THREAD: ANTISEMITIC SURGE ON TWITTER
NCRI is warning of massive surges of unmitigated antisemitism on Twitter.
In the evidence below, NCRI finds use of
#COVID1948
trending abruptly on Twitter. Comparing Jews to a lethal virus now appears to be going viral.
Since Jan 2023, there have been a rash of attacks against Hindu homes of worship by Khalistani extremists across the world. To understand the prevalence of temple vandalisms and Khalistani mobilizations, NCRI created a timeline of events:
The opposite was true for Kashmir - while Instagram had 370k posts with
#StandWithKashmir
, TikTok had ~229million
While pro-Ukraine and pro-Israel hashtags were underrepresented on TikTok, pro-Kashmiri Independence hashtags were overrepresented.
Inauthentic bot-like activity disseminated both Hinduphobic and Islamophobic messaging. Using NCRI’s tools, we found evidence of bot like accounts that disseminated both anti-Hindu and anti-Muslim messaging throughout the violence, projecting the other community as responsible.
Moving forward, information threats can be shared with local community leaders and LE officials so they can act collaboratively to address false narratives that can lead to real-world violence.
@ncri_io
analyzed hashtag data related to pop culture, politics, topics directly sensitive to the Chinese government both regionally and internationally.
While examining cyber social activity following temple & government building vandalisms, NCRI observed Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) based on observed usage of bot-like activity.
This revealed hundreds of accounts participating in unique influence operation “bot-campaigns”
Comments by Joel Finkelstein, Director of the NCRI.
"Conspiracies on the web have mushroomed from smaller, obscure sites like 8kun frequented by adherents of QAnon to more mainstream sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram."
When it came to hashtags accusing China of terror, posts on TikTok appear to be miniscule compared to those same hashtags on Instagram.
Take ‘Chinazi’, ‘ChinaTerrorist’ or ‘TerroristChina’ (capture 21/12)
While the bots have identical messaging within campaigns, their mentions vary by tweet. Based on the visualization, the targets of the campaigns appear to be prominent Indian journalists, reporters, politicians and community members.
TikTok likely promotes and demotes certain topics based on the perceived preferences of the Chinese government, according to a study from an independent research organization at Rutgers University.
3 core themes of bot campaigns:
1) Encouraging, celebrating, and taking credit for temple vandalisms and harassment
2) Advocating Violence: Grenades, Bombings and threats to critical infrastructure
3) Organizing/Amplifying real life mobilizations that result in violence
Analysis of user reported locations found that a substantial subset of these accounts (~20%) were self-identified Pakistani accounts.
The user descriptions of bots had themes around Pakistan, Pakistani politicians along with calls to “Follow Back”
Last week, NCRI detected an n-slur raid from 4chan on Twitter moments after
@elonmusk
took the helm.
Our research finds that these raids were predictable, yet
@twitter
's responses have been historically uneven.
Thread (1/x)
Terms such as “street-shitter” convey anti-Hindu hate as a hidden codeword according to NCRI analysis. Platforms, including Twitter, need to do a better job in flagging these hateful terms.
NCRI chief strategist, Denver Riggleman featured in this morning's NY times and NCRI and its research feature strongly as well! A real honor to have you on board
@RepRiggleman
.
Social graph analysis depicts an interconnected retweet network composed almost entirely of accounts NCRI identified as bot-like. That these accounts spam nearly identical material in a synchronized manner & retweet only within-network strongly suggests inauthentic coordination.
These signals may have credible value in forecasting flashpoints for law enforcement and civil society organizations intersecting planned unrest, to create additional lines of defense, especially in cases where moderation efforts fail.
This report highlights a need for more intensive signals-led intelligence to better detail the nature, scope and dynamics of emerging threat networks from the social cyber domain.
The Russian Disinformation Ecosystem and Online Conspiracy Communities Shifting Focus to the Looming Food Crisis, a new report by NCRI + Miller Center
@RutgersU
.
Covered by
@guardian
and
@adamgabbatt
Report:
🧵 on our findings:
A contagion of antisemitic hate appears to be emerging at an unprecedented scale. Thousands antisemitic memes in addition to these are escalating - hashtags such "Hitlerwasright" "Zionazi" and other slogans identified as antisemitism by the IHRA definition.
The NCRI is calling upon
@Twitter
and other platforms to take immediate action to help mitigate this outbreak. NCRI's previous analysis shows clearly that extremist hashtags and slogans are upstream predictors of real world violence and unrest.
QAnon has "rebranded" since President Trump left office, says Joel Finkelstein, who monitors online misinformation for Network Contagion Research Institute. Followers are now doubling down on misinformation about COVID vaccines and masks.
Jews appear to be caught in a catch-22 with regards to antisemitism: The acts that deplatform antisemites now carry marginal gains: Fringe communities from all extremes are merging into a shared conspiracy support group against Jewish control and displacement.
Sounding an undue alarm about low-signal extremist content can potentially elevate security risks and embolden bad actors, as they see the attention generated by their actions as a sign of success and validation, and may be motivated to carry out further extremist activities.
THREAD:
With the largest data driven characterization to date at the time, The NCRI warned platforms, the international association of chiefs of police and federal agencies of the imminent insurgent threat of the Boogaloo-reported in the Guardian today.
Thank you,
@nytimes
@jwpetersNYT
for featuring
@ncri_io
's paper on "'Hunger is our Only Hope': The Russian Disinformation EcoSystem and Online Conspiracy Communities Shifting Focus to Looming Food Crisis."
🧵 (1/x)
Russia has spread conspiracy theories blaming the West for disrupting the world food supply to try to deflect from its responsibility, U.S. officials say. Its propaganda has bled into right-wing chat rooms and even mainstream conservative news media.
Our research on Spain's Reconquista movement reveals their use of social media to amplify anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant sentiments and undermine faith in Spain’s multicultural democracy.
They're adopting tactics similar to far-right groups globally.
Analyzing the Antisemitism Attention Economy - Step 1
Our findings show that
@kanyewest
&
@KyrieIrving
metastasized Jewish hatred to fuel populist support.
How? We examined how chatter, toxicity, antisemitic conspiracy + new followers escalate with each successive controversy.
Hybridization of hate - Step 2
Let's meet some of their new friends:
Extremist/white supremacist communities celebrate Kanye & co, as 'heros' for standing up to the Jews.
Heil Kanye & Yedolf appear in word clouds surrounding Kanye & 'Fuhrer' in topic networks on 4chan.
Keep an eye out for inauthentic activity ahead of the USA v Iran
#WorldCup
match.
The NCRI identified a substantial hashtag campaign from self-identified pro-Iranian regime accounts amplifying
#ExpellUSA
.
Yes, they misspelled expel despite tweeting it 20k times an hour.
🧵
On July 9, Mr. Forsell showed up at Congressman Jayapal’s home, carrying a .40-caliber pistol and allegedly threatening to kill her and shouting at her to go back to India.
@RepJayapal
@PramilaJayapal
Please see pioneering work from the NCRI in collaboration with Walmart and Google's Director of Research, Peter Norvig, to deliver a nationwide, data-driven climate model for COVID-19 vaccine reluctance.
After the release of our recent report on TikTok anomalies in use that aligned with the CCP political interests, TikTok quietly curtailed hashtag analysis features on its platform.
Thanks
@sapna
for the coverage today in
@nytimes
!
Some updates 👀🧵
TikTok has quietly restricted access to a data tool that researchers and lawmakers have been using for months to scrutinize content on the site related to geopolitics and the Israel-Hamas war:
Breaking: NCRI report shows massive foreign funding to U.S. Universities, with concerning gaps in reporting. Missing donor info, program details, and university compliance issues. Thousands of historical fields, dates, and names absent. Full details: "
“The recent arrest of an armed, threatening, potentially murderous person outside the home of Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) has underscored two areas of continuing and tragic governmental neglect …
Antisemitic disinformation is a hallmark for QAnon information operations, serving a critical role for the mythology in fueling grievances about a notoriously Jewish deep state, complete with myths of drinking children's blood.
NCRI director Joel Finkelstein and
@AHousefather
's recent Editorial in Canada's National Post arguing for the creation of a sovereign supported Center for Disinformation Defense.
Next we analyze notoriety of antisemitic conspiracies - That Jews were disproportionately responsible for the transatlantic slave trade.
Our timeline shows increases of mentions of the conspiracy nearly doubling when Kanye or Kyrie amplify antisemitic content.
The NCRI was honored to contribute to this
@bloomberg
cover story by
@livcarville
, which details the troubling rise of sextortion scams targeting teenage boys, tragically driving some victims to suicide.
This crisis demands urgent, collective action.