In July and August of this year, Twitter and Meta removed two overlapping sets of accounts for violating the platforms' terms of service. Twitter said the accounts ran afoul of its platform manipulation and spam policies. According to Meta, it is “coordinated inauthentic behavior”. available to social media analytics firm Graphicka and the Stanford Internet Observatory
Affiliated Propaganda Network
The joint investigation uncovered an interconnected network of accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and five other social media platforms that use deceptive tactics to promote pro-Western narratives in the Middle East and Central Asia. The platforms' data sets appear to span a series of covert campaigns over a period of nearly five years, rather than a homogeneous operation, it said.
These campaigns, the researchers say, have consistently supported narratives that favor the interests of the United States and its allies and oppose countries such as Russia, China and Iran. The accounts particularly criticized Russia for the deaths of innocent civilians and other atrocities committed by soldiers in pursuit of imperial ambitions after the invasion of Ukraine. Part of the activity also promoted anti-extremism messaging.
Most extensive case to date, but only a few likes
According to the study authors, the activities represent the largest case of covert pro-Western intelligence operations on social media analyzed by open-source scholars to date. With few exceptions, modern intelligence investigations have largely focused on activity related to authoritarian regimes such as Russia, China, and Iran.
The covert operations examined for the study are strikingly similar to operations already examined. The assets identified by Twitter and Meta created fake personas with GAN-generated faces, posed as independent media outlets, deployed memes and short-form videos, attempted to launch hashtag campaigns, and placed online petitions.
This tactic has already been observed in previous operations by other actors. The majority of the posts and tweets examined received no more than a handful of likes or retweets. Only 19 percent of the hidden content identified has more than 1,000 followers.
Sources:
pte
Stanford Digital Repository: Unheard Voice: Evaluating five years of pro-Western covert influence operations
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