Days after Twitter removed accounts spamming pro-Russian hashtags amid the Ukraine invasion, an Australian misinformation researcher says that he’s found networks of accounts still manipulating the platform by spamming #IStandWithPutin.
Last week Twitter banned more than 100 accounts pushing the hashtag #IStandWithPutin for coordinated inauthentic behaviour — essentially claiming that they were trying to game the system to get this message trending.
Misinformation researchers first noticed the networks because the accounts whose pro-Russian messages were going viral were small and used generic stock photos, two signs that they weren’t accounts belonging to real people.
Now Queensland University of Technology’s Dr Timothy Graham says he’s found networks of accounts continuing to try to influence the platform that go far beyond what Twitter has acted on.
Using network analysis to find accounts that were promoting the same #IStandWithPutin tweet in close proximity from a data set of 230,000 tweets, Graham was able to find different clusters of accounts acting in concert, including some that exhibited bot-like behaviour.
“Pictured in this network is evidence of rampant, large-scale platform manipulation to get the hashtag “IStandWithP*tin” trending. It is far worse than Twitter admits,” he tweeted on Sunday, while also cautioning that this is just preliminary research.
So is this proof these accounts are being controlled by a Kremlin puppetmaster to bend Western narratives on the Russia-Ukraine war?
Without further evidence, it’s impossible to conclude who is behind these accounts. But the existence of pro-Putin messages being boosted by accounts that look like they’re being run by computers isn’t a smoking gun for Russian interference.
Graham identified at least three groups of accounts: a suspected Arabic-language bot network; a group of spammers who are trying to hijack the #IStandWithPutin hashtag; a group of pro-Putin, anti-US, anti-NATO accounts from India.
Some of these accounts promoting the hashtag explicitly advertise that they are commercial services that exist to manipulate Twitter and other platforms, including by getting hashtags trending.
What Graham’s research show is — regardless of the intent behind the accounts — a small number of accounts, seemingly controlled by an even smaller number of people who are running them as bots, are able to manipulate Twitter’s platform. The effect of this interference is that Twitter users are being hoodwinked as to how popular this pro-Russia message is.
Twitter has been contacted for comment.
Plenty of manipulation on you tube from both camps. There could be as much misinformation as information on you tube today generally. It’s good if you want to make a chocolate cake.
It is odd that the allegedly digi/image literate new generation cannot look at the images and emo coming out of Ukraine without seeing the big con.
Anne Applebaum has spoken of how both MAGA and Kremlin bots are now indistinguishable in messaging and origins; like till recently RT and Fox were too promoting Trump.
Twitter’s trending algorithm is almost embarrassingly easy to game. Researchers looking into various “popular” anti-trans hashtags, for example, discovered that all it took to get something listed as trending was a dozen or so accounts all retweeting each other, causing Twitter to think the content was exponentially more popular than it was.
Unfortunately it’s a low priority for Twitter to fix because everything is engagement, and you don’t get that promotion delivering a feature that makes number go down.
Found the link to the research, it’s more like a couple of dozen than a dozen, and it’s quadratic not exponential, but close enough for a Wednesday morning. https://transsafety.network/posts/this-is-an-exploit/
Who cares! Twitter is for twits!
Apparently Putin & Xi care.
Putin an Xi wouldn’t use the same platform as Dumpster [twitter] they have standards to keep.
Foolish & foul.
Sex and Travel Selkie
Foul, foolish fowl aka dumb cluck.
Take the hint and cluck off