Sex sells. It also sells propaganda. ISD has unearthed a network of pro-Kremlin Twitter accounts using stolen photos of conventionally attractive influencers to push pro-Kremlin propaganda in the Middle East and Africa. isdglobal.org/digital_dispat…
Institute for Strategic Dialogue
8,624 posts
Institute for Strategic Dialogue
@ISDglobal
For 20 years, ISD has led the way in detecting, exposing and combatting terrorism, extremism and authoritarianism.
- ISD is committed to covering the Russia/Ukraine conflict across our areas of expertise. All of our resources for understanding the conflict and its context can be found on this page, which will be updated regularly. isdglobal.org/digital_dispat…
- When attempting to justify hate against queer people, the media, politicians & conspiracists are increasingly incorporating the term ‘groomer’ into their vocabulary. The mainstreaming of this slur is actively contributing to violence & moral panic. isdglobal.org/explainers/the…
- Replying to @ISDglobalWhat the ‘Vladimirror Network’ highlights is the strength of micro-networks, small bands of loosely connected accounts, working to spread pro-Putin content, and succeeding in evading moderation and detection.
- For over a year, ISD researchers delved into the little known or understood Salafi community of “Islamogram.” What they found was a fundamental shift in Gen-Z Salafi activism, where the aesthetics & tropes of the alt-right are fueling a convergence unlike we’ve seen before. 🧵
- A new ISD investigation exposes the full extent of a pro-Kremlin influence operation spanning social media pages, cloned websites and fake videos. Read our full report, out now. isdglobal.org/digital_dispat…
- Replying to @ISDglobalA lack of reinforcement of community guidelines such as the ban on the use of duplicate accounts, highlight that moderation is still sorely lacking. The #IstandwithRussia campaign only reinforces previous findings.
- Speaking on claims Twitter has become a safer space to hate, Elon Musk says “this is not a right-wing takeover, but a centrist takeover”. ISD analysis found that Musk’s own interactions with right-wing accounts increased over 1600% after he took control. isdglobal.org/digital_dispat…
- Replying to @ISDglobalBut Gettr’s user follower numbers don’t make sense. It seems Gettr inflates followers by combining them with Twitter data – they’ve since disaggregated ‘Gettr followers’ but inconsistencies remain.
- Replying to @ISDglobalAnalysing data from 7M followers of 132 accounts known to spread abusive & misogynistic content, we found a 69% increase in the number of newly created accounts following these channels following Musk’s takeover isdglobal.org/digital_dispat…
- Replying to @ISDglobalOn Discord, researchers found a small, tight-knit community of Islamogram influencers and their followers across 6 servers. These 6servers had a collective membership of 4,478. There young Salafis derided George Floyd, sided with Adolf Hitler, and shared bomb-making material. 10/
- Replying to @ISDglobalIn 2022, the profile encouraged users to use the hashtag once again “so that when situations like this” happen they can connect in support of Russia. It has since been given new life, & was used by as many as 9,907 Twitter accounts and shared 9,900 times in pro-Kremlin FB groups.
- More people than ever get their news from social media. ISD analysed what users see when they search for news about Ukraine on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. In many cases, the answer is pro-Kremlin accounts and unverified sources.
- ‘Climate lockdown’ is a new type of disinformation that aims to drive fear about future ‘green tyranny’ – it claims gvmt overreach will be enacted under the pretext of climate change to strip people of civil liberties, using language explicitly related to the pandemic (1/12)
