Inside the Shadowy World of Disinformation-for-Hire in Kenya (mozilla.org) 26
New research by Mozilla Fellows Odanga Madung and Brian Obilo reveals that Kenyan journalists, judges, and other members of civil society are facing coordinated disinformation campaigns on Twitter -- and that Twitter is doing very little to stop it. Highlights of the investigation include: Disinformation campaigns are a lucrative business. One interviewee revealed that disinformation influencers are paid roughly between $10 and $15 USD to participate in three campaigns per day. Payments are made directly to the influencers through the mobile money platform MPESA.
Twitter's trending algorithm is amplifying these campaigns, and Twitter is placing ads amid all this misinformation. Eight of the 11 campaigns examined reached the trending section of Twitter. The campaigners we spoke to told us that this is their number one target, as it affords them the amplification they seek.
These campaigns run like a well-oiled machine. One of the influencers who researchers spoke to explained a complex system of using Whatsapp groups to coordinate and synchronize tweets and messaging. Anonymous organizers use these groups to send influencers cash, content, and detailed instructions.
These campaigns are increasingly targeting individuals. No longer focusing on just broad issues and events, disinformation campaigns are increasingly identifying and targeting individuals, like members of the Linda Katiba movement and the Kenyan judiciary. This work is also beginning to border on incitement and advocacy of hatred, which is against Kenyan Law.
Verified accounts are complicit. One influencer we spoke to claimed that the people who own coveted "blue check" accounts will often rent them out for disinformation campaigns. These verified accounts can improve the campaign's chances of trending.
Twitter's trending algorithm is amplifying these campaigns, and Twitter is placing ads amid all this misinformation. Eight of the 11 campaigns examined reached the trending section of Twitter. The campaigners we spoke to told us that this is their number one target, as it affords them the amplification they seek.
These campaigns run like a well-oiled machine. One of the influencers who researchers spoke to explained a complex system of using Whatsapp groups to coordinate and synchronize tweets and messaging. Anonymous organizers use these groups to send influencers cash, content, and detailed instructions.
These campaigns are increasingly targeting individuals. No longer focusing on just broad issues and events, disinformation campaigns are increasingly identifying and targeting individuals, like members of the Linda Katiba movement and the Kenyan judiciary. This work is also beginning to border on incitement and advocacy of hatred, which is against Kenyan Law.
Verified accounts are complicit. One influencer we spoke to claimed that the people who own coveted "blue check" accounts will often rent them out for disinformation campaigns. These verified accounts can improve the campaign's chances of trending.
Unforeseen consequences. (Score:2)
Welcome to the gig-economy.
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We just need an addendum to or an updated version of Franklin. Believe half of what you see, unless you see it on social media. Then don't believe none of that shit either! Teach people to be less
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I imagine anything that starts with, "between $10 and $15 USD to participate in three campaigns per day" should be a clue as to why the status quo isn't working. It's like the whole Afghanistan and opium thing and what happened when that was taken away. [newyorker.com]
> on Twitter (Score:1)
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And on slashdot? (Score:2)
A lot of comments on slashdot make me wonder how much of the audience is real.
Everything seems to be modded-up insults with no insight or information.
There's also the cheap gainsaying, where if someone doesn't post a link you can respond "citation needed", or just saying "no it isn't" without any explanation.
Most of the insults are personal, as if insulting the writer will make your position correct. You can also insult the subject of the post, which implies your position is correct because the person in th
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VPN isn't much good when it broadcasts your use of it. We gotta do better
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And 100% made-up statistics. You just wrote yourself out of your own narrative. So which are you? 90% or 10%?
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The amount of regular posters here is small and some have plenty of sock puppet accounts to manipulate moderation. It’s getting more difficult to tell a sock puppet from a genuine loon anymore.
Re:And on slashdot? (Score:5, Insightful)
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/. in general works well for less political discussions— the level of comments, content, and moderation are all in sync. Once you start to get political or religous tribalism things pretty much go out the window; this is especially clear in a few areas where there are clearly paid “influencers” working.
That said, even on some hot-button issues that don’t really belong here, I value the discussions here more than any other venue. It might be a shit-show everywhere, but at least here
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On the other hand, how do you tell the difference between a paid Russian shill and someone who hasn't read any 20th century history and legitimately thinks Marxism is a great idea because...
On the gripping hand, how do you tell the difference between a liar and someone who can't separate their fever-pitched delusions from reality?
You constantly conflate anything socialism related with Big Bad Marxism.
What was it you said? "It's well known that the universities are indoctrinating people with Marxism"
Give me a fucking break.
A lot of people can look at the Scandinavians and say, "hey- democratic socialism seems to work pretty well."
And, "hey- authoritarian communism with a vanguard party (
Re: And on slashdot? (Score:2)
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There's also the cheap gainsaying
No there isn't. [youtube.com]
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Has slashdot been taken over by coordinated, paid, disinformation peddlers?
Or is the audience really a pack of adults acting like grade-school children?
I'd say the most likely answer to both those questions is yes. To be honest, there's always been an element of Slashdot that acted like grade school children. Add in the ever decreasing ability for a lot of folks to apply even the basics of critical thinking over the past decade and some change, it's not shocking we have a lot of toddler-esque conversations. But, if you watch closely, which admittedly is hard to do without losing what few brain cells we have left, you can see patterns that are clearly ei
And facebook is cashing in on this cow (Score:3)
Anonymous organizers use these groups to send influencers cash
Now we know the real reason behind why Facebook made the change to the terms of service [forbes.com]. Injecting themselves as a middle man to make money off disinformation campaigns. How long does this go on until the world wakes up to these social media companies being the enabler?
We're woke to Tik-Tok but Facebook always gets a pass and points at 2000-era forums as the boogie man. HMMMM.
What, somebody ran out of (Score:1)
Nigerian princes?
Any evidence it is confined to Kenya? (Score:2)
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Nobody's saying that.
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It's been painfully obvious for a while (Score:2)
Anybody who's on Twitter has noticed this being particularly bad the last few years. 5+ years ago trends were actually amazing. The quintessential trend was the Arab Spring, which scooped the MSM by at least 2 days. I was reading about all this stuff in Tunisia before the big networks even *metioned* it.
Now "trending" is a cesspool and I'm not sure exactly when it became this way, so take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt because it's only based on my personal experience.
For me, the beginning of
"Influencer" isn't a real job (Score:1)
And this just goes on further to reinforce that point. If anyone labels themselves as an Influencer, then the only logical option is to completely ignore them.
Anyone who wants to claim that Influencer is a real job because they are "doing something" that "earns money" doesn't understand what a real job or real work is, and they can eat a bag of dicks.
Another dog bites man story (Score:2)
Oh, look, rich assholes are ruining something... (Score:2)
Since social media is resistant to competition due to the network effect, they probably need a little more governance than traditional web sites.
If users were permanently banned for failing to disclose that content was paid/sponsored, that would probably stop the worst of the problem.
Honestly, I think I'd like to see a legal disclosure requirement for all paid content across the board. Let's give people the opportunity to filter out blatant propaganda and guerrilla marketing.
Not sure if a US law would help