It was a shock team commissioned by Twitter to counter “black ops,” these coordinated campaigns by countries like Russia, China, and Iran, aimed at influencing public opinion and destabilizing democracy.
But the unit was all but dismantled with the dismissal or resignation of many employees, leaving the platform vulnerable to manipulation from outside, the BBC reports.
Earlier this week, Elon Musk said there was “less misinformation [sur Twitter] more than more” since he took office, without commenting on the existence of these accounts dedicated to “trolling”.
“Troll Farms”
However, various pro-Russian, pro-Ukrainian and pro-Chinese troll networks have been very active on the social network in recent weeks. One of these “troll farms”, for example, supports Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, ridicules Kiev and the West, and attacks independent Russian-language publications.
While some accounts have been suspended, others are still active, despite the ease with which they should be detected: their Twitter handle has random numbers and they are acting in concert.
In 2018, the FBI witnessed Russian interference in the 2016 US election, for example by creating fake American accounts. Facebook and Twitter then formed teams to fight these “informal operations.” Twitter had hired experts from the world of cybersecurity, journalism, government agencies and NGOs, who spoke several languages such as Russian, Farsi, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish or Portuguese.
In 2022, for example, a coordinated network spreading false or simply negative information about the French army and United Nations missions in the Sahel was dismantled.
But many of those employees have since quit, disenchanted with Musk’s plan for the social network. “Our role was to help make Twitter as secure as possible,” summarizes a former researcher on the platform. “And it didn’t leave us with the feeling that it would continue to be a priority.”
Source: BFM TV
