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1) Uncovered: How an anonymous Spanish alternative blog, which spreads disinformation items and polarizing content, has been using the Amazon Associates program to fund its activities.
2) La Verdadera Izquierda (meaning “the True Left” in Spanish) began in 2011 as a Twitter account and blog with the goal of "unmasking the lies of the left and socialism in this great country called Spain”. It attracted around 38K followers before its suspension in April 2020.
3)The blog appeared several times on our radar as a disinformation propagator, mostly because it regularly copy-pasted content from websites spreading disinformation. https://maldita.es/malditobulo/2019/12/17/no-la-alcaldesa-de-barcelona-ada-colau-no-ha-permitido-que-tsunami-democratic-anuncie-en-las-marquesinas-municipales-su-acto-previsto-para-el-clasico/
4) Another example: La Verdadera Izquierda quoted a false report from the alternative media “Mediterraneo Digital” about Podemos. This was debunked by the Spanish fact-checker @malditobulo https://maldita.es/malditobulo/2020/01/15/no-podemos-no-ha-prometido-playas-para-musulmanas-en-espana-2/
5) The blog also maintains an active Facebook Page (4275 followers) which mirrors the Twitter account’s characteristics (dissemination of fake, biased and polarizing content, opacity and lack of transparency, etc.).
6) Looking further, we saw a network of Facebook pages that had liked and cross-posted one another, meaning they either mentioned or reposted one another’s content.
7) Focusing on Twitter, we looked at La Verdadera Izquierda’s most retweeted accounts.
8) For example, one was called Patria Espana and was very similar to Orgullo Nacional Facebook Page.
9) We also found a Twitter account called “Yo Estoy con vox” that was also re-posting the exact same content as Patria-Espana and La Verdadera Izquierda.
10) Other Twitter accounts appeared in the most retweeted accounts – one called Totaltriatlon (an online Triathlon magazine) and another called “Sergarlo” who claims to be Totaltriatlon’s manager.
11) We found links between these accounts and the Facebook page Unboxing and reviews (e.g. the promotion of Amazon URLs).
12) So, what do we have here? A network of Facebook and Twitter accounts, actively promoting disinformation and divisive content in Spain. Yes… but we have more.
13) These accounts were not only sharing divisive content, they also were sharing many URLs pointing to Amazon Marketplace, from candies to Spanish-themed COVID-19 masks.
14) So, what the significance of all these Amazon links? The response is very simple, Amazon has a programme allowing third-parties to earn commission on a product they recommend: https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/
15) As a user, when you click on one of these Amazon links and purchase the item, you automatically give money to the middleman who provided you with the link.
16) It’s a business mainly used by influencers to generate money out of their “recommendations”. How much can you make? It depends on the product: https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/help/node/topic/GRXPHT8U84RAYDXZ
17) What’s the point? Here, a vast majority of the Amazon URLs pushed by this network of accounts were linked to a few Amazon IDs. You can find an ID by looking at the ‘id=” information in the URL. For instance, this offer from Amazon had been posted almost 50 times on Facebook.
18) Here, for instance, if someone buys this “ball scratcher” through the URL promoted by “YoEstoyConVox”, the owner of the Amazon account called “Sergarlo,” who’s a member of the Amazon associates program, will receive a percentage of the sale.
19) Here, we can see a link to an ID called “totatria”, which looks just like TotaTriatlon (the page managed by “Sergarlo”). Patria Espana “jokingly” proposes Voltaren to demonstrators beaten by the police.
20) Moreover, on La Verdadera Izquierda’s website, readers can "support (the blog) by buying products through the Amazon Associates program". Once again, the URL provided here is linked to Amazon ID “Totatria”. https://perma.cc/A6FA-HDH6
21) Eventually, we could confirm that all Twitter accounts of the network have been regularly pushing Amazon URLs related to either “Sergarlo” or “Total Triatlon”. In May 2020, La Verdadera Izquierda pushed 44 Amazon URLs online, while Patria Espana promoted 50 of them.
22) To confirm this, on 22 May 2020 we found out that all of the network accounts simultaneously pushed a link towards a Facebook group proposing Amazon discounts. This group was created by Sergarlo on the same day.
23) Following the classification we proposed in a recent article, here we witness a mixed model, between lucrative and issue-based disinformation. This investigation demonstrated how complex it is to classify the intent of disinformation. https://www.disinfo.eu/publications/the-few-faces-of-disinformation
24) If you want to know more about our investigation, you can read our full report here: https://www.disinfo.eu/publications/the-monetization-of-disinformation-through-amazon-la-verdadera-izquierda
25) For more background information, you can also read the coverage from @EFEnoticias, with whom we partnered on this investigation (in Spanish): https://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20200526/481417318853/detectan-en-espana-una-novedosa-tecnica-para-monetizar-bulos-mediante-amazon.html
BONUS: In April 2020, most of the original accounts uncovered during our investigation were suspended by Twitter or had changed names. New accounts have been set up with similar names and are still following the same pattern.
