reSee.it - Tweets Saved By @RVAwonk
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
I wrote about a website posing as a local news source reporting on the Ohio train derailment. In reality, the Lithuanian-based website is using "writers" with AI-generated faces to spread disinformation, often by plagiarizing content from other sites. https://open.substack.com/pub/weaponizedspaces/p/ai-reporters-spread-disinformation?r=1aupz&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
For example, this article, which was produced by a writer with an AI-generated face, is a ripoff of a Fox News article criticizing Pete Buttigieg. Notably, this narrative can be traced back to Fox News' criticism of Buttigieg for being "absent" when he was on parental leave.
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
This website, which uses the guise of local news to gain credibility, also produced content that helped spread conspiratorial/fear-mongering claims about chemical contamination reaching people thousands of miles away — claims that are refuted by experts & fact-checkers.
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
Content from the website is being shared somewhat widely on social media. Much of this content is related to train derailments & other accidents involving toxic chemicals, but also includes right-wing disinfo promoting accelerationist & racist narratives about "white genocide."
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
The tactics used by this website are intentional. Hence, it may represent an early example of an effective use of AI-generated facial images in a widespread influence campaign using the guise of local news during a crisis to disseminate messaging designed to maximize engagement.
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
Some AI-generated text is so good at mimicking news writing that it can produce fake & misleading articles that are more believable than those written by humans. This has the potential to be used to produce believable & highly influential disinfo campaigns on a massive scale.
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
Basically, it appears that this website is posing as local news and presenting "writers" with AI-generated faces as real reporters to gain credibility, then publishing partisan articles that are critical of the Biden administration but without the label of a partisan news outlet.
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
My latest for @NatObserver, on how Russian proxy sites and convoy Telegram channels trafficked in Russian propaganda about last year’s truck convoy in Canada — putting the convoy on a global stage & potentially shaping actual events on the ground. https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/02/16/analysis/trudeau-resignation-freedom-convoy-russian-proxy-sites
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
Some of the Russian proxy sites covering the truck convoy in Canada have even published articles authored by fake personas created by Russian intel agencies. The purpose is to make them look like domestic Canadian voices, rather than people writing on behalf of Russian intel.
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
As I’ve stated previously and throughout the paper, none of this should be interpreted as evidence that Russia was responsible for the convoy. Rather, this is evidence of Russia interfering in the domestic politics of other countries to cause chaos and social divisions. https://t.co/3FbXJy9gpj
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
Russia interferes in domestic politics in a variety of ways, including forging strategic media alliances w/ protest leaders; supporting & encouraging protesters to show up en masse while also inciting violence against them; & flooding the info space with inflammatory propaganda.
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
In this latest piece for @NatObserver, we focused on Russia’s influence activities via proxy sites & Telegram channels. These proxy sites are linked to Russian intel but retain some plausible deniability, which makes them more effective than overt state funded propaganda arms. https://t.co/AnKl0pJTYS
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
These Russian intelligence-linked proxy sites took aim at Trudeau repeatedly, and even accused the Canadian govt of being “tyrannical” and committing human rights abuses against protesters. Russia likes to use projection in its propaganda. https://t.co/1h8iCn2OWf
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
In many Telegram channels set up to support the convoy, there was a notable shift towards pro-Russia content, including Russian language content & Kremlin press releases. I also found recycled versions of old conspiracy theories like the one about Chrystia Freeland being a Nazi. https://t.co/6z3uz4CCVt
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
These conspiracy theories very often overlapped with Russia’s justification for invading Ukraine — ie, “denazifying Ukraine”. And they were eliciting support for these falsehoods by using the convoy and associated anti-govt grievances as a vehicle for that propaganda. https://t.co/T9Dp2gNem1
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
The use of Telegram by Russia and by far-right movements around the world is notable because it’s a clear example of extremist movements using the infrastructure of QAnon to coordinate messaging and protests, and to evade platform bans.
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
As stated repeatedly, the convoy was a domestic movement that grew out of past protest movements, and exploited pandemic-related grievances. But given Russia’s role in the global far-right movement, it’s worth asking how much Russia was involved in those previous movements, too.
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
Russia didn’t start interfering in domestic protest movements in 2022. This is a long-term trend, seen most prominently in Europe, and in far-right movements globally — so why would we assume Canada is an exception to this well-documented trend? I wouldn’t make that assumption.
@RVAwonk - Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
—> https://journals.lib.sfu.ca/index.php/jicw/article/view/5101/4385
