Pro-Kremlin Twitter Network Takes Aim at Ukraine and COVID-19

Pro-Kremlin Twitter Network Takes Aim at Ukraine and COVID-19

Twitter suspended a network of accounts that coordinated to promote narratives around the coronavirus pandemic, and to amplify a pro-Russian news site ahead of the invasion of Ukraine.
newsfront logo on a faded yellow background.

On August 24, 2022, Twitter shared 15 datasets of information operations it identified and removed from the platform with researchers in the Twitter Moderation Research Consortium for independent analysis. One of the networks included accounts of a well-known Kremlin-linked journalism platform, NewsFront. The network, which was suspended under Twitter’s Platform Manipulation and Spam Policy, also included smaller pro-Kremlin news sites. The takedown featured accounts associated with these news platforms, as well as fake persona accounts engaged in coordinated behavior to boost specific tweets and articles.

The suspended network consisted of 38 accounts active predominantly from 2013 to 2020, with a small upsurge of activity in January and February 2022, just prior to Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Different parts of the network appear to have been suspended on different dates, with the earliest inactive in 2016. According to Twitter, the presumptive countries of origin for the accounts in the network were Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S.

Following our analysis of the tweets, accounts, and the timeframe of their activity, we were able to identify four clusters:

  • NewsFront accounts sharing articles in Russian, German and Serbian

  • Accounts amplifying pro-Kremlin narratives surrounding the pretext of the invasion of Ukraine

  • Accounts coordinating to spread rumors around COVID-19

  • A small group of accounts focusing on regional issues in Ukraine

The linked report outlines the extent and scope of the pro-Kremlin network, identifying narratives across multiple languages.

Read More

Arrows pointing toward Middle Eastern and Asian countries
Blogs

Unheard Voice

Stanford Internet Observatory collaborated with Graphika to analyze a large network of accounts removed from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in our latest report. This information operation likely originated in the United States and targeted a range of countries in the Middle East and Central Asia.
cover link Unheard Voice
A graphic depiction of a face falling towards the ground on a red background overlayed with a black satellite dish and the word "takedown".
Blogs

Mind Farce

An Investigation into an Inauthentic Facebook and Instagram Network Linked to an Israeli Public Relations Firm
cover link Mind Farce
twitter takedown headliner
Blogs

Analysis of February 2021 Twitter Takedowns

In this post and in the attached reports we investigate a Twitter network attributed to actors in Armenia, Iran, and Russia.
cover link Analysis of February 2021 Twitter Takedowns