Declassified Australia exposes and analyses a massive secret propaganda operation being run out of the US, that has been buried by Western media.
by Peter Cronau
by Peter Cronau
Part 4 - The Russia cluster
Ukraine became the focus of much of the covert Twitter operation from February. The researchers found ‘assets that previously posted about Russian military activities in the Middle East and Africa pivoted towards the war in Ukraine, presenting the conflict as a threat to people in Central Asia’.
‘Shortly after the invasion began in February, accounts promoted pro-Ukrainian protests in Central Asian countries. Later posts reported on evidence of atrocities committed by Russian troops and Russia’s block on Ukrainian grain exports.’
The covert campaign, citing Russia’s ‘imperial’ ambitions, presented the US as ‘the main guarantor of Central Asia’s sovereignty against Russia’.
‘Shortly after the invasion began in February, accounts promoted pro-Ukrainian protests in Central Asian countries. Later posts reported on evidence of atrocities committed by Russian troops and Russia’s block on Ukrainian grain exports.’
The covert campaign, citing Russia’s ‘imperial’ ambitions, presented the US as ‘the main guarantor of Central Asia’s sovereignty against Russia’.
‘Other posts criticized Russia’s use of propaganda to spread anti-West and pro-Russia narratives in Central Asia, depicting Russia as a nefarious actor working to undermine independent democracies.’
The covert operation established ‘fake personas’ linked to ‘sham media outlets’, purporting to report news from events in Central Asia. Several of these sites and pages attracted as many as 6,000 followers.
Facebook transparency data showed administrator locations of four of the fake pages as being in France, but Meta analysis found them to be actually ‘originated in the US’. Several pages posted pictures of Paris and its monuments in an attempt to obfuscate the true US origins.
Several of the fake ‘news’ sites, such as Intergazeta and Vostochnaya Pravda, translated content into Russian from the websites of the BBC Russian Service, US embassies in Central Asia, and US-funded Radio Free Europe. They also often obtained content from media outlets directly sponsored by the US Central Command, particularly Caravanserai.
Facebook transparency data showed administrator locations of four of the fake pages as being in France, but Meta analysis found them to be actually ‘originated in the US’. Several pages posted pictures of Paris and its monuments in an attempt to obfuscate the true US origins.
Several of the fake ‘news’ sites, such as Intergazeta and Vostochnaya Pravda, translated content into Russian from the websites of the BBC Russian Service, US embassies in Central Asia, and US-funded Radio Free Europe. They also often obtained content from media outlets directly sponsored by the US Central Command, particularly Caravanserai.
At least four of the sham media outlets ‘made apparent attempts to launch hashtag campaigns related to the war in Ukraine’. One site posting about the Russian invasion of Ukraine used the not-so-subtle hashtag translated as #TodayUkraineTomorrowCentralAsia. The report’s audience analysis found these attempts did not gain significant traction.
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