State-Funded ‘Anti-Disinformation’ Campaign Flagged Americans as Foreign Shills: Twitter File

An anonymous state-funded group had thousands of American Twitter users flagged and banned for spreading hate speech. “foreign” According to the, disinformation latest installment Of “Twitter Files” Matt Taibbi (independent journalist) released this information on Thursday.

The flaw “anti-disinformation” The blacklist campaign was spearheaded by Global Engagement Center (GEC), an unrecognized unit of the State Department. Established in 2017 GEC has been given the task of working with government agencies like the FBI and Department of Homeland Security as part of Obama’s shift in its national security strategy. “counter the messaging and diminish the influence of international terrorist organizations.”

The GEC has produced a number of successful breeding programs over the years. “sprawling complex” Of “disinformation studies labs” Taibbi says that this includes prominent colleges and think tanks. According to Taibbi, the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Labs (DFRLab) is one of those GEC-funded entities. It said that in 2021, it believed that 40,000 Twitter accounts had been hacked. “paid employees or possibly volunteers” Bharatiya Janata Party – BJP, India’s current ruling party.

“Attached you will find a spreadsheet of around 40k twitter [sic] accounts that our researchers suspect are engaging in inauthentic behaviour in support of BJP and Hindu nationalism more broadly,” Andy Garvin, analyst and senior Fellow at DFRLab wrote in a June 2021 Email to Twitter.

However, the list was filled with everyday conservative Americans. Many of them apparently have no connection whatsoever to India or BJP or the religious-nationalist agenda it promotes.

“I have no connection to any Hindu folks … Just a Reagan Republican here in CT,” User “Bobby Hailstone” Taibbi.

“A Hindu nationalist? I’ve never even been out of this country. Let alone the state of NJ,” A different user wrote: “Lady_DI816.”

Twitter’s former Integrity Chief Yoel Roth replied to Garvin’s email. He wrote that he “spot-checked a number of these accounts” It was amazing to discover that almost all of them were real people. Taibbi suggested that this could explain why so many accounts are on the “India list” They still live to this day.

Twitter also received a spreadsheet containing 5,500 users that the GEC believed to be on it. “Chinese accounts” Involved “state-backed coordinated manipulation.” These accounts were also not believed to be associated with China and the Chinese communist regime.

According to screenshots Taibbi shared of chats, Twitter executives were frustrated to locate on the “Chinese list” CNN employees are based overseas.

“Not exactly Anderson’s besties, but CNN assets if you will,” Twitter’s Patrick Conlon made a joke about Anderson Cooper, CNN’s anchor.

“Really really important to highlight this—what a total crock,” Roth said so.

In another email screenshot, the GEC asked Twitter to review 499 accounts suspected of spreading foreign disinformation, for reasons that include using the hashtag #IraniansDebateWithBiden and communicating on Signal, an encrypted messaging mobile application.

The most recent publicly available information budget audit report The State Department reported that the GEC received roughly $98.7million in 2018, which included $78.7million in funds set aside for Congress and $20million transferred from the Pentagon. According to the report, the GEC used the money for at least 39 organizations. However, only three were left unredacted.

The Atlantic Council did not respond to our request for comment. In the meantime, a spokesperson for State Department said that the GEC had been approved. “does not and has never attempted to moderate content on social media platforms.”

“The GEC’s mandate is to coordinate with other federal agencies to direct, lead, synchronize and coordinate the efforts of the U.S. government to understand the sources and trends in foreign attempts to spread disinformation and propaganda globally.”

Independent journalist Michael Shellenberger and Taibbi have been the focus of attention for publishing internal discussions between Twitter’s former leadership. Many of these discussions involved decisions to censor information at the request government agencies. On March 9, the House Judiciary Committee will hear their findings.