Read on Twitter
[Thread]1/ This one is about the fake news claiming that a sick boy on the floor of a hospital in leeds was staged by his mother. We know the story is real, Dr Yvette Oade, chief medical officer at Leeds even apologised https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-50713236
2/ Firstly, the bots and sock puppet accounts are on the case on Twitter. As you can see, an identical tweet claiming the mother staged the photo was circulated on Twitter. It's literally copied and pasted, and the accounts are targeting it at various influencers
3/ Even more alarming is on Facebook. The exact same tweet is mentioned on dozens of fairly dodgy looking FB accounts. What's more, is that some of these posts are pasted into groups where they get liked and commented on, often by people who seem to believe it ... #bbcqt
4/ In one example, Jason Crosby pastes the tweet on the FB group for "Seaham Have Your Say". Seaham have your say is a page with 24k followers serving the North Eastern coastal town of Seaham. His post gets 91 comments and 26 shares.
5/ This one is even more egregious. The fake news post on the group March Cambridgeshire Free Discussion with 37k members has 235 comments and 28 shares. You can see the comments here, https://www.facebook.com/groups/550171758376588/permalink/2738102966250112/ - many call out the fakeness, others seem to believe it...
6/ It's interesting to note that in addition to targeting national level Facebook groups, a lot of these accounts are targeting influential local Facebook groups such as that of Cambridgeshire and Seaham. We know the role local FB groups are said to play in this election
7/ Meanwhile, back on Twitter, @Telegraph columnist @allisonpearson retweeted the copy and pasted tweet (of course in theory the text could still be genuine - but if so why is is circulated by weird sock puppets). Pearson 'presumes it is genuine'.
8/ It's 3.20 am here and I'm tired but I'll wager @allisonpearson is perhaps the most influential proponent of the faked floor theory. Stay tuned for her expose in the telegraph. I hope she interviewed the senior nursing sister! Night all ! https://twitter.com/allisonpearson/status/1204160375505268740
9/ Last one. Interestingly @allisonpearson 'a retweet of what looks like a bot was then retweeted by @Fox_Claire (albeit with more caveats - not that it matters really) . Goes to show how potentially fake accounts and news can spread so insidious
10/ Important Update! Former England Cricketer @KP24 has tweeted to his over 3 million followers the same copy and paste fake news story perpetuating the myth that the boy on the hospital floor photo was staged. Crisis mode! Also good morning #GE19
11/ Important update: @roobinzuk got in touch to show that a post completing the narrative arc of the "hospital floor fake" was posted in the FB group "Vote Leave, East Anglia", a pro-Boris group with 13,500 likes. It was posted by the group administrator. Group links to
12/ a the pro-leave website "vote leave take control". Not clear whether there are official links between this FB page and the vote leave take back control site/campaign http://www.voteleavetakecontrol.org/?fbclid=IwAR1ovuTRN_JftQRiXzktFVzRPlxehls3Z3zumUKyTt9Rff1_BbqdnjL4hHc
13/ Another update. The latest fake post thanking the nurses at Leeds hospital after their encounter with a 'labour activist' is not confined to the "East Anglia, Vote Leave" group, it's being posted much like the previous posts, on multiple FB pages and groups. See below
14/ Thanks @MustardSeedUK for this. The "Warrington 4 Brexit" Facebook group also has the copy and pasted post. The group has over 1000 followers. The post has been shared 467 times, a lot. Also, assuming the original Sheree Jenner screenshot is real, it was shared 8k times!
15/ This is sensational. A woman whose name has been withheld due to death threats has told the Guardian that her FB account was hacked to spread the fake news about the Jack Barr photo.If this is true, would suggest the operation could be external info op https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/dec/10/woman-says-account-hacked-to-post-fake-story-about-hospital-boy?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
16/ If account was hacked, then this is likely illegal under UK law - presumably the Computer Misuse act of 1990, which prohibits unauthorized access to devices. This suggests whoever did it is ignorant of the law, or is indifferent, or both. Suggests it could be external actor
