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There is a common thread between the Biden White House trying to silence Joe Rogan and the Canadian government trying to silence the truckers: The truckers and Rogan say things that the autocrats can’t control. pic.twitter.com/858wgqRqc2
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 11, 2022
There are now at least a half-dozen convoy groups with over 10,000 followers, and not all of them are being run by fake accounts. Here's Facebook's full statement.
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) February 11, 2022
Story coming soon. pic.twitter.com/1ED05MVAee
The signs of fraud are too strong to ignore. The "freedom convoy" is a put-up job; not at all the grassroots expression it's desperately trying to brand itself as. This fugazi astroturfing exercise has taken a huge toll on the people of Ottawa and across the country. https://t.co/6NrVPY7SiZ
— Ian Cromwell (@ICromwell4Van) February 11, 2022
The Trucker protests are really testing the terms we have to describe online manipulation. Not only are there organic elements, but also foreign funding through campaigns, copycat groups and pages administered from other countries, right-wing US media advocating for them…
— Jordan Wildon (@JordanWildon) February 12, 2022
More evidence the "trucker protest" is anything but. https://t.co/CsSVU1mqzS
— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) February 11, 2022
If people were willing to include racism , on the acting AND analysis side ? This would be easier but they won’t and they few time s they do they under resource it to hell https://t.co/Gkdzfpj20I
— ?Sydette Cosmic Dreaded Gorgon ?? (@Blackamazon) February 12, 2022
We see this playbook every time and social media companies do not care. https://t.co/Afxzbjvfka
— Susan J. Demas ? (@sjdemas) February 12, 2022
Scoop, story incoming:
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) February 11, 2022
Facebook groups tied to American offshoots of Canada’s “Trucker Convoy” are being run by fake accounts tied to content mills from Vietnam, Bangladesh, Romania and several other countries, the company confirmed to NBC News on Friday.
"Manipulation" or "misinfo" are solid terms for describing some components of online influence but this is, simply, how influence works today.
— Renee DiResta (@noUpside) February 12, 2022
In any networked activism/protest movement that captures widespread attention, groups w/varying motivations pile in: money or ideology https://t.co/PzYlFzyGl1
We at @gridnews are continuing to cover this story cause it’s not over - DMs are open and email in bio. https://t.co/8tDiRIP4Mp
— Benjamin Powers (@benjaminopowers) February 11, 2022
Hey @JustinTrudeau
— Chris Nethery (@ChrisANethery) February 11, 2022
Before you go blaming American right-wingers, maybe you should talk to the experts at @csiscanada .
Well-funded Canadian/Sri-Lankan radicals?https://t.co/38zNOoZV8x
What does it mean?
?
This story makes me realize: the truck protests represent the arrival of hartals in the west https://t.co/go8HJvAc66
— Josh Kovensky (@JoshKovensky) February 11, 2022
Grassroots movement. https://t.co/LC1lewfTHm
— Gerald Butts (@gmbutts) February 11, 2022
This is insane:
— Rex Chapman?? (@RexChapman) February 12, 2022
“Many of the groups have changed names multiple times, going from hot-button political issues like support for former President Donald Trump or opposition to vaccine mandates, to names with keywords like “trucker,” “freedom,” and “convoy.” Facebook allows…” 1/2 https://t.co/Mzw9f7suUP
Anyone know how the Bangladesh connection arose here?https://t.co/Vv0cBDbQkf
— Zia Haider Rahman (@ziahaiderrahman) February 11, 2022
As a member of the Standing Senate Committee on Transportation and Communications, I think there are some important questions that need to be asked of Facebook about the allegations reported here. I hope to ask some myself. https://t.co/tlJ9T2YVyg
— Paula Simons (@Paulatics) February 12, 2022
This dynamic seems to happen now whenever there are mass protests because a lot of people are looking for certain terms and spammers glom on, create pages, grow audiences. Reminiscent of the content farms that got in the game during the 2020 BLM protests. https://t.co/8GJxXsGFYq
— Renee DiResta (@noUpside) February 12, 2022
Excellent scoop from Ben. Here’s my piece from November explaining why this isn’t the first and won’t be the last instance of overseas content mills entering a political fray. https://t.co/DHEoABGbCi https://t.co/9mv0v14Noi
— Karen Hao (@_KarenHao) February 12, 2022
“We will get fooled again” is currently our national motto https://t.co/HEZgbuVgCS
— Brian Hiatt (@hiattb) February 12, 2022
Maybe when Facebook was able to bury its purge of up to 13 mil “spam” accounts in arguably the hottest point in its history - April 2017 - we should have cared a bit more what those accounts were actually doing and how “active” they were despite Facebook’s misleading comments. https://t.co/QhrbyifFYc
— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) February 11, 2022
This from Renee hits the nail on the head of exactly what I’m getting at and describes it in a much more nuanced and informative way. https://t.co/W8hskgNOXu
— Jordan Wildon (@JordanWildon) February 12, 2022
The trucker convoy is — you guessed it — a grift to collect ad revenues. https://t.co/lazin0NKU9 pic.twitter.com/YdHabSFVlH
— Nandini Jammi (@nandoodles) February 11, 2022
At a certain point, I think we just have to accept that conservative online spaces are so full of grift, fraud, violent extremism, astroturfing, and misinformation that it is actually no longer possible to organize an “authentic” conservative movement online. https://t.co/LsMmwcfrKs
— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) February 12, 2022
Nothing has changed. Facebook is still optimized for scamming gullibles and susceptibles with content fraud. Only thing that’s changed is internal reports have leaked that Facebook knows its platform is perfectly optimized for content farms and their fraudulent tactics. https://t.co/TEB9himJmV
— David Carroll (@profcarroll) February 12, 2022
This has been true for some time. https://t.co/im4YZzsAsS
— anildash (@anildash) February 12, 2022
Well this all sure isn't getting any *less* strangehttps://t.co/l3YBiubJYL
— Dave Levitan (@davelevitan) February 11, 2022
and here. we. GO.
— anya van wagtendonk (@twiceanya) February 11, 2022
How foreign actors, QAnon and hate groups pervade the convoy movement’s support:https://t.co/0GgkKoxAq7
look havent we considered that a bunch of Bangladeshi dudes who happen to work at facebook content mills are just really passionate about the Canadian truckers???!
— Jason Paladino (@jason_paladino) February 11, 2022
The secret money and Bangadeshi marketing firm backing the truckers' convoy in Canada.
— David Beard (@dabeard) February 11, 2022
Oh, and QAnon, too. https://t.co/OxkQPTPSqN
In my own reporting yesterday about the convoy groups, @jaredlholt told me they were framing them as protests against the government specifically because they know that causes Facebook to back off.
— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) February 11, 2022
See FB's statement to @oneunderscore__ below supporting that notion. https://t.co/UnulreVFtm
@gridnews is consistently delivering more insights on how the occupiers are using and abusing social media than anyone else. Major props to their team. https://t.co/tdkmuUtvCG
— Vivek Krishnamurthy (@vivekdotca) February 11, 2022
I find it infantilizing that people are more likely to believe that Facebook turned gramps racist than that someone who grew up in a world where Black people had to sit in the back of the bus and couldn’t attend the same schools or live on the same block would be racist today. ? https://t.co/CITrHPlx1E
— Dare Obasanjo (@Carnage4Life) February 12, 2022
These should objectively be called Facebook Convoys https://t.co/42kh1jbDEZ
— Matt Negrin, HOST OF HARDBALL AT 7PM ON MSNBC (@MattNegrin) February 11, 2022
Every time I turn around Facebook (or Meta, or whatever) has allowed something to happen on their platform that is actively hostile to democracy.
— Sara Sanchez (@BCB_Sara) February 11, 2022
Great reporting here. Be sure you check out the full thread and article:https://t.co/lY5xdPOViJ https://t.co/N4BwE1j87g
We’re all being played for chumps.
— Noah J. Nelson (@noahjnelson) February 11, 2022
And it’s working. https://t.co/KnftmZnmvJ
Here's our full story on the arrival of the American Trucker Convoys — who, how, and where they're planning.
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) February 12, 2022
It's fake accounts in Romania AND big-money antivaxxers in California.
I think it's comprehensive. I hope you read it.https://t.co/w2wVo4IcOK
NEW from me:
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) February 11, 2022
As U.S. ‘trucker convoy’ picks up momentum, foreign meddling adds to the frayhttps://t.co/w2wVo4IcOK
#SeditionHunters - as Canada tries to clear its invading trucker convoys, they're gearing up in the US. A year after Jan 6, reporters are savvier about the scale of organized disinfo campaigns used to mobilize crowds. Good thread & article from NBC... 1/https://t.co/Wb6gNYlKe0.
— capitolhunters (@capitolhunters) February 12, 2022
This is proof that Facebook is not properly managing itself. https://t.co/sjPr5RL21z
— Derek Powazek (@fraying) February 12, 2022
As U.S. ‘trucker convoy’ picks up momentum, foreign meddling adds to fray https://t.co/Bdl405a9OU
— Andrew Coyne ?? (@acoyne) February 12, 2022
An investigation by @gridnews reveals the Canadian #FreedomConvoy2022 is backed by a Bangladeshi marketing firm, while foreign actors, #QAnonCult-ists, hate, supremacist & right-wing fringe groups pervade the movement. #FreedomConvoy https://t.co/v0TSSwJcTC
— Cyril Mychalejko (@cmychalejko) February 12, 2022
The Canadian ‘#FreedomConvoy2022’ is backed by a Bangladeshi marketing firm and right-wing fringe groups. #Cdnpoli https://t.co/TrfVtFG9Uv
— Jaro Giesbrecht?? (@JaroGiesbrecht) February 12, 2022
The Canadian ‘Freedom Convoy’ is backed by a Bangladeshi marketing firm and right-wing fringe groups – Grid News https://t.co/dAs3Rjd10w
— Robert Young Pelton (@RYP__) February 12, 2022
Bangladesh firm at center,promoting Ottawa protest. It was odd it was happening in Canada, w/80% vaxxed & only 2% of Canadian truckers involved-now we know it was created by RW extremists to disrupt supply chains,which they could blame on Biden.#DemVoice1 https://t.co/RNFpK7fpUJ
— Tommasina Says Amerca Is Now Great Again ??? (@TommasinaResist) February 12, 2022
Overseas content mills are behind much of the Facebook support for trucker convoys:
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 12, 2022
Facebook groups promoting American trucker convoys are being run by fake accounts tied to content mills in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Romania and several other countries.https://t.co/IEfY4ATSAK
then instead of like...sleeping...my teammates followed that insane story with one even more surreal today: two of the largest facebook groups backing these protests were the work of a bangladeshi marketing firm? https://t.co/30OAAYzgdN
— Alex Leeds Matthews (@alex_leedsmatts) February 11, 2022
A Bangladeshi firm appears to have played a key role in promoting the Ottawa protest online. There is increasing evidence of fringe conspiracies and violent extremism throughout the movement. https://t.co/uSeLGgD0dh
— chris zappone (@chrizap) February 12, 2022
NEW: Grid has found #FreedomConvoyCanada2022
— Benjamin Powers (@benjaminopowers) February 11, 2022
groups with over 170k members were started and administered by a digital marketer in Bangladesh who said he did it for "freedom". https://t.co/UlLRJ8cAdy
UPDATED: The founder of the Bangladesh marketing firm — who insisted he was not paid for his Facebook group work or in contact with organizers — gave @the_nazmul of @UCBerkeleyIRP an entirely different version of events in a separate interview last week.https://t.co/uZ8CMV3qH5
— Steve Reilly (@BySteveReilly) February 12, 2022
The Canadian ‘Freedom Convoy’ is backed by a Bangladeshi marketing firm and right-wing fringe groups https://t.co/LYRRjnkUmb
— John Light (@LightTweeting) February 11, 2022
"Combined, they show how QAnon adherents and fringe, even supremacist, ideologies pervade the movement." https://t.co/bMnwWDVO2i
— Stephen (@NucksOnNet) February 12, 2022
U.S. organizer Brian Brase is behind a cross-country truck convoy from Indio, California, to Washington, D.C., starting March 4. Brase’s group is encouraging truckers to keep gas receipts, promising that they will reimburse expenses on arrival in Indio.https://t.co/jJxhPq24cH
— KD (@Fly_Sistah) February 12, 2022
“I hope the truckers do come to America,” @RandPaul tells The Daily Signal of the possibility that a Freedom Convoy may form ahead of the Super Bowl. “It’d be great.” https://t.co/zkZ276k5gW
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) February 10, 2022
Full video on @DailySignal's YouTube, story here:
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) February 10, 2022
EXCLUSIVE: Rand Paul Encourages Truckers to Come to America and ‘Clog Cities Up’https://t.co/zc5dXXsONb
In case you missed it there’s a United States Senator calling for “truckers” to block access to our nation's capital while terrorizing Super Bowl spectators. All of this while our nation sits on the precipice of a proxy war with a nuclear-armed adversary.https://t.co/dGtGSRS5JO
— Mark Holland For Kansas (@Holland4Kansas) February 12, 2022
“I hope the truckers do come to America,” @RandPaul tells The Daily Signal of the possibility that a Freedom Convoy mayRand Paul form ahead of the Super Bowl. “It’d be great.” via @MaryMargOlohan @DailySignal https://t.co/NH3pFPL1un
— KDkat (@kkat2u) February 12, 2022
RAND PAUL: “Hands across America was a great moment in our history. But because the tyranny of Fauci doesn’t allow us to shake hands anymore, we’ll give him what he wants. We’ll give him Trucks Across America.” https://t.co/WAu4chojM4
— Sucker Carlson ᵖᵃʳᵒᵈʸ (@SuckerCarlson) February 11, 2022
Rand Paul needs to keep his lying mouth shut
— Biden 2024 Democrats Rule-Palmer Report Reader (@JIMBO_Biden2024) February 11, 2022
“I hope the truckers do come to America,” @RandPaul tells The Daily Signal of the possibility that a Freedom Convoy mayRand Paul form ahead of the Super Bowl. “It’d be great.” via @MaryMargOlohan @DailySignal https://t.co/wncvjtD4yi
EXCLUSIVE: Stupid Rand Paul Encourages Truckers to Come to America and ‘Clog Cities Up’ #SmartNews https://t.co/hckX00qmuw
— candacemariecooper (@candies2639) February 11, 2022
If you thought it was outrageous when BLM protesters blocked the freeway for an hour, how much worse would it be for protesters to shut down major American cities for days or weeks?
— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) February 11, 2022
This, from Rand Paul, is just nuts:
https://t.co/pfZ1P6WNky 1/2
I don’t think he felt the same about BLM protests. EXCLUSIVE: Rand Paul Encourages Truckers to Come to America and ‘Clog Cities Up’ https://t.co/EruhnNcA24
— Dennis Dejay (@DiaDuitTu) February 11, 2022