Are the government using fake social media accounts to push their agenda AGAIN?

[noblegiraffe]

Interesting allegation on twitter last night that a government department organised fake twitter accounts using photos of real NHS workers (without permission) to push an ‘end lockdown’ agenda.

twitter.com/jdpoc/status/1252266724449230848?s=21

It’s something this particular bunch have done before so shouldn’t be instantly dismissed.

So, lots of questions to be answered about who created the fake.

And my observatio,n that a certain sort of fake goes out of its way to promote trans stuff, holds true.

Here’s what NHS Susan had been posting <a class="break-all" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tNt_cteDB-4J:twitter.com/nhs_susan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tNt_cteDB-4J:twitter.com/nhs_susan

“I’m not likening him to Jesus Christ but who else came back to life on Easter Sunday’

Big Boris fan.

Bluntness

I always credited you with more intelligence.
No, of course the gov wouldn't make a decision that may come back to haunt them, they let us think it was our idea, not theirs.
Wtf has it got to do with tin foil hats, don't tell me you believe everything you are told by a government.
I can assure you "noblegiraffe" does not conspire to the foil hat brigade, how bloody rude.

Looking at those posts, this reads more like a pisstake than a misinformation campaign?

I can't imagine how many fake accounts there are on twitter and on here purporting to be from medical staff etc.

Lots of shills as well.

Just waiting for certain posters to turn up on here now....

NHS nurse defending the government over lack of PPE? That’s just begging for a retweet isn’t it?

Just waiting for certain posters to turn up on here now....

Surely we wouldnt recognise them if they came on here, they always sound so well thought out

It's a weird mix. The PPE one does beg for a retweet...but the idea that the clap is non-inclusive and Boris rising from the dead like jesus?? These don't sound like believable positions whether you are the wokest of woke or a massive Boris fan. They sound like making fun of the left and the right. Is that how misinformation works?

Oh yes klaxon alert from tory HQ and they'll be here with their put downs

xtinak from what I've seen, "pisstake" accounts are intended to get ideas swirling and when caught out claim, "it was just a joke."

They're still effective at circulating the ideas.

Looking at noble's webcache link, this one isn't actually as obviously pisstake-y as others I've seen. It would be possible to mistake it for the account of a real, opinionated, NHS staff member.

Is that how misinformation works?

Yes!

and Boris rising from the dead like jesus

Wasn't that the headline in the Sunday Express though

"He is risen"

Looks like it.

I sometimes wonder about some of the posts on here as well.

It's actually a known Russian method: put out so much obvious shit that people retreat from believing in everything.

But I'm sure they're not the only ones who do it, as it's so easy and effective.

Well I'm fascinated. I suppose it works if you never look at the whole thing in context, just an isolated tweet.

Is crafting a believable character or bothering to create an original image just too resource intensive for the volumes they are trying to churn out?

I can see advantages that this could get retweeted possibly in different echo chambers... but it's so obviously not a real account!

My mind is boggling.

I sometimes wonder about some of the posts on here as well

With good reason.
Especially around the referendum and the election

C'mon now people, bluntness has to stand up for people that post a different version of the truth- remember the bedroom picture?

The stooge accounts on MN are fairly spottable tbh, mainly because they're written by men, posting how they think women talk. I'm not going to post the other thing that gives them away, as I really don't want them going under my radar, but there are other behaviours that make them obvious to the observant.

Funny how "nhs_Susan" is a transwoman, isn't it? Anyone flagged it on FWR?

Well I'm fascinated. I suppose it works if you never look at the whole thing in context, just an isolated tweet

I love looking at people's tweeting history when they say something controversial.

There is often a pattern to their tweets and a certain belief history.

I really can't be arsed with all this bollocks.

Would the government (any government) lie and manipulate? Yes of course they would (and do).

Is there a point to them trying to push an end to lockdown when they are the ones keeping it going? Not that I can see.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but this sounds like a lot of those youtube claims.

Do you know that the US government denies UFOs because that way people will think UFOs are real and being covered up by the government so when FEMA rounds people up and executes them people will blame it on .. UFOs.

Of course I may be a government agent just saying that to put you off the scent...

Oh there are trolls crafting believable characters as well.

southlonestar and TEN_GOP put quite a lot of work into it. (These are just ones that come to mind; the trolls have moved on to new topics now. Also Russian trolls are by no means the only ones.)

How a Russian 'troll soldier' stirred anger after the Westminster attack
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/14/how-a-russian-troll-soldier-stirred-anger-after-the-westminster-attack

How Russian bots appear in your timeline
www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41982569

23 tweets from @TEN_GOP, one Russian-run Twitter account mentioned in Mueller’s new indictment
www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/19/16504510/ten-gop-twitter-russia

"Jenna Abrams" was a classic case, now identified as being an account of the Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll farm.

Jenna Abrams, Russia’s Clown Troll Princess, Duped the Mainstream Media and the World
www.thedailybeast.com/jenna-abrams-russias-clown-troll-princess-duped-the-mainstream-media-and-the-world

While the the typical image of a Russian troll may be a hastily put together Twitter account blaring out non-stop political messages, Abrams’ account went to great lengths to simulate a real, American person who existed outside of Twitter fights and amplifying racist disinformation.

Her Twitter account was created back in 2014. She had a personal website, a Medium page, her own Gmail, and even a GoFundMe page.
[...]
One of Abrams’ earliest media mentions came well before the 2016 election, in a June 2015 BBC article that aggregated Twitter users’ feelings about women choosing not to shave their armpits. Later that year, British newspaper The Telegraph picked up one of her Twitter jokes about punctuation.

Is there a point to them trying to push an end to lockdown when they are the ones keeping it going? Not that I can see

LastTrainEast apparently the cabinet is split on the issue. hence them needing to ask on MN so often whether they should end it or not, obviously

We happen to know a certain amount about Russian trolls because of leaks by discontented staff at the Internet Research Agency, and because their interference in the 2016 US election was investigated.

www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/02/putin-kremlin-inside-russian-troll-house

But the techniques are available for use by anyone who can be bothered, be they trolls paid by a nation state, or volunteer political enthusiasts.

Fascinating. I have scanned these but will read properly in due course. I've heard of some of it.

The theory that the UK govt would be using these fake accounts to cover up its own incompetence or influence attitudes to lockdown is interesting, but it feels a bit parochial.

I'd like to know what the bigger picture could be. This pandemic situation has left a lot to play for in the balance of global power, mass surveillance etc. I don't want to get my tin foil hat on but at the same time if I was a major player in some way, or the USA, or China, or Russia... I wonder what I'd be pushing for right now.