4 ms·
Don't know why they redacted the Twitter handles in the screenshots if they believe these to be bots/propagandists. In any case, you can easily find the accoun
by aragonite 3y ago
Don't know why they redacted the Twitter handles in the screenshots if they believe these to be bots/propagandists.
In any case, you can easily find the accounts by searching for the tweeted texts. It's very unlikely that these are regular Twitter accounts. But I see little reason to think this is part of a camouflaged "CCP propaganda operation" to influence the US election. You need to at least make an attempt to masquerade as a "fellow American" to qualify as election interference, but many of these accounts have handles/names that are literally pinyin, or have Chinese profile pics, or regularly retweet/like tweets in Chinese.
It's also not clear to me just what claim the report is making. It says Spamouflage "is already pivoting to focus on [the election]". Then later it says "the bulk of the content appears aimed at creating a sense of dismay over the state of America without any clear partisan bent... These [the issues focused on] are not election-specific narratives and have been a significant feature of Spamouflage's content over several years." So Spamouflage is at once pivoting to focus on the election and mostly talking about issues that aren't election-specific; and it's at once trying to improperly influence the election outcome and doing so in a way 'without any clear partisan bent'...
- orev 3y agoInfluencing an election can take the form of sowing confusion and apathy, instead of driving people to a specific candidate. This leads to people not voting or otherwise participating, which cedes the political landscape to the extremes, who then go on to destabilize the country. It can be done without broaching election-specific topics.
- dralley 3y agoHere's a less immediately obvious, but still pretty damn obvious Russian troll account https://twitter.com/blackintheempir https://twitter.com/blackintheempir https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FtKeFiYWIAgQLfw.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FtKeFiYWIAgQLfw.jpg
- aragonite 3y agoHmm, I was inclined to agree with you at first based on the screenshot & the first 20 or so tweets I read, but he does appear to be a real American! https://youtu.be/MNPiTsaH1ak?t=23 https://youtu.be/MNPiTsaH1ak?t=23
- dralley 3y agoI'm intensely skeptical, because that's not the only instance of them following a script https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FemF_adUoAAgbAF?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FemF_adUoAAgbAF?format=jpg&name=...
- enterprise_cog 3y agoThat guy posted it first and a bot or other account repeated it. That isn’t evidence.
- skhunted 3y agoSo Spamouflage is at once pivoting to focus on the election and mostly talking about issues that aren't election-specific; and it's at once trying to improperly influence the election outcome and doing so in a way 'without any clear partisan bent'... People are easily influenced by messaging. Today it is easy to create targeted messaging. A state actor could send messages to Republicans that are different than the ones sent to Democrats. In this way it is correct that the actor has no partisan bent. They just want to sow confusion, doubt, misinformation. One can imagine that it is possible to influence an election without using election specific issues. If, for instance, welfare reform is not an issue in an election but talking about it in a way to create fear and anger can influence an electorate’s desires. I believe that if the CCP is actively engaged in an information war against Americans that they could do so in ways that, on the surface, would appear to be ineffective.