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Canada among targets of Twitter accounts shut down for links to Kremlin and proxies
Apologies: This article is actually from Feb 28 but it is very interesting
The Globe and Mail
PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 28, 2021
Steven Chase
Excerpt
DisinfoWatch.org, a new disinformation monitoring and debunking project at the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute think tank, sifted through more than 68,000 tweets released last month when Twitter disclosed the results of efforts to identify networks of state-linked information operations. Twitter said these campaigns were trying to disrupt the “open democratic conversation” on its application.
These included accounts that Twitter said “can be reliably tied to Russian state actors” as well as accounts from co-ordinated campaigns “that show signs of being affiliated with the Internet Research Agency (IRA) and Russian government-linked actors.” The Kremlin-backed IRA is often informally referred to as the “Russian troll factory” used to develop and amplify disinformation. Canada-related tweets in this matter date as far back as 2009.
Tweets from the suspect accounts sometimes push narratives with no proof, including a pro-Kremlin journal that opined in 2019 that the departure of former Chinese ambassador to Canada Lu Shaye amounted to some kind of rebuke of Ottawa by Beijing. “China Removes Its Ambassador From Canada: Decides Canucks Are Too Nuts Under Technocrat Trudeau Regime,” the tweet said, linking to the journal article.
A significant number of the tweets paint Mr. Trudeau as a tool of the wealthy. “Trudeau is another neoliberal capitalist pawn of the oligarchy,” one account said in 2017.
Marcus Kolga, project lead at DisinfoWatch, said the trove of tweets disclosed by Twitter should prompt the Canadian government to expand efforts to counter foreign information-warfare and influence operations. He said the deleted tweets “clearly demonstrate that the Russian government has been targeting the Canadian government, elected officials and issues of Canadian national interest.”
These included accounts that Twitter said “can be reliably tied to Russian state actors” as well as accounts from co-ordinated campaigns “that show signs of being affiliated with the Internet Research Agency (IRA) and Russian government-linked actors.” The Kremlin-backed IRA is often informally referred to as the “Russian troll factory” used to develop and amplify disinformation. Canada-related tweets in this matter date as far back as 2009.
Tweets from the suspect accounts sometimes push narratives with no proof, including a pro-Kremlin journal that opined in 2019 that the departure of former Chinese ambassador to Canada Lu Shaye amounted to some kind of rebuke of Ottawa by Beijing. “China Removes Its Ambassador From Canada: Decides Canucks Are Too Nuts Under Technocrat Trudeau Regime,” the tweet said, linking to the journal article.
A significant number of the tweets paint Mr. Trudeau as a tool of the wealthy. “Trudeau is another neoliberal capitalist pawn of the oligarchy,” one account said in 2017.
Marcus Kolga, project lead at DisinfoWatch, said the trove of tweets disclosed by Twitter should prompt the Canadian government to expand efforts to counter foreign information-warfare and influence operations. He said the deleted tweets “clearly demonstrate that the Russian government has been targeting the Canadian government, elected officials and issues of Canadian national interest.”
Full article here: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-canada-among-targets-of-twitter-accounts-shut-down-for-links-to/
I hate to see Canada come under these attacks.
Here is a link to the Canadian website DisinfoWatch (it's a great website).
https://disinfowatch.org/
Here are some of the Disinfo headlines they are tracking today:
DISINFO TRACKER
COVID Related Restrictions in Canada Did Not End on March 1
5 March 2021
COVID-19 vaccine will not make you “gay”
23 February 2021
Russian State Media Claims Travellers to Canada are Being Unlawfully Detained
17 February 2021
COVID Related Restrictions in Canada Did Not End on March 1
5 March 2021
COVID-19 vaccine will not make you “gay”
23 February 2021
Russian State Media Claims Travellers to Canada are Being Unlawfully Detained
17 February 2021
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