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. @TwitterSafety this is just a theory, but there appears to be a bot/troll farm operating or funneling its traffic through Athens, Greece, with the intent to stoke controversy in the United States by amplifying twitter hashtags related to controversial topics.
According to @Trendsmap, many of the same contentious hashtags that were trending last night in America were also trending in Athens (but nowhere else overseas). I checked around midnight EST, which is 7 AM in Greece.
For example, #NYCfireworks, #cancelKimmel, #WhiteLivesMatter & #DCprotest were all trending in Athens. See attached maps. I realize Athens is a cosmopolitan city w/many expats, but seems odd for ppl to be discussing fireworks at 7 AM & who knew Kimmel was so popular in Athens?
Currently, at 7:45 PM EST & 2:43 AM in Greece, #ItsOkayToBeRacis is trending in Athens. Many accounts tweeting, liking & retweeting this hashtag appear to be bots. For example, this one is likely a bot according to IU's @Botometer. It has also changed its profile photo and name.
But, it's not just that account. One tweet I analyzed that used one of those hashtags seemed to get a large # of its 700+ likes from bot accounts.
This isn't to suggest that Greeks or the Greek government is behind this. It's well-known that Russia, for example, has troll farms in other countries and used similar tactics during the 2016 election. See, e.g:
- https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/12/twitter-facebook-disinformation-africa-ghana-nigeria-ira-russia/
- https://www.npr.org/2017/10/30/560042987/russians-targeted-u-s-racial-divisions-long-before-2016-and-black-lives-matter
- https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/12/twitter-facebook-disinformation-africa-ghana-nigeria-ira-russia/
- https://www.npr.org/2017/10/30/560042987/russians-targeted-u-s-racial-divisions-long-before-2016-and-black-lives-matter
Again, this is just a theory, so take it with a grain of salt. But this looks suspicious and could possibly be part of a nation-state disinformation campaign. So, I'll hope you'll look into this. Thanks, @TwitterSafety
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