Showing posts with label Tactics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tactics. Show all posts

Monday, 29 January 2024

A Conversation with Putin about Ruskiy Mir

 

President Putin;

Interviewer: Thank you for the time in know you are a busy man. I would love to ask you a few  questions to help foreigner leaders and their representatives who speak with you to understand your "Russian World" concept.

Putin "Yes this is my favorite topic; this is my concept to make Russia Great Again."

Interviewer "Are you saying that Russia is not currently great?"

Putin "No, no. Russia has always been great, but we are working to restore our Historic lands.  Historic Lands is a useful term because it can mean we establish a claim on any place a Russian has ever been to, traveled through, any land a Russian speaker lives in now or in the future."

Interviewer: "please continue."

Putin: "Russian is a useful term, too, because it can be applied to the pure blood Russians, the Muscovy Peoples, any ethnic person in a country that depends upon Russia, and non- Russians who have been "Russified" anywhere in the world, like we are doing in Africa. It also, in certain circumstances, means Russians who have left Russia, Friends of Russia, or anyone  who speaks Russian in any country in the world, even of they disagree with  Russkiy Mir."

Interviewer: "So the meaning of both Russia and Russian expand or contract as you see fit to synchronize with your information operations, is that right?"

Puitn: "Yes, that's right."

Interviewer " So based on these definitions of Russia and Russian, is their any potential place that can never be Russian, or group of people who can never be Russians?

Putin: "Some will take longer time than others, but eventually that is true"

Interviewer "what happens if  a country, a people or a person does not want to be Russified?"

Putin: "You are from the West, you have little understanding of these things, so I will explain; I heard your Hillary Clinton once say in an interview. "You convince as many as you can, and take away the resources of the others".  Russkiy Mir works that way.  It is the only way a world can be unified and at Peace. You convince them to believe in it, and then persuade as many as you can to make Russian choices. This is what it is to become Russified. If people or groups cannot be convinced and Persuaded, then they are NAZI/enemy, and they must be conquered. We make an example of them for others. We rubble their resources and whoever is left serves Russkiy Mir in service life or in death. We then will move Russified peoples into our new Russian land. When, this is complete we will have the Russian Peace. The Children removed from what used to Ukraine were send east to live with Russian families to Become Russified- they will be the next soldiers in the growth of Ruskiy MIr.

Interviewer "So if  a person or group or country does not wish to undergo this Russkiy Mir process, must the rest of  Russkiy Mir be at war with them until they submit?"

Putin: "There is a process that will take some time, both today and in generations to come. Because of our teaching through what you call information operations, targeted to every group both inside and outside Russia today, most will submit by choice - your remember the last line in Geroge Orwell's book 1984 - "But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother." It will be like that.""

Interviewer " so I hear you saying the only peace for the world is unity in submission to single system, is that Right?"

Putin "Yes, because the Russian culture is unified and superior. the Muslims say peace and submission, too, but the Muslims themselves are divided.

Interviewer "is there anything else you want to add?

Putin "The west is the only people who oppose us now, because the majority follow us in our multipolar world, not the US. We are united, the West is divided  and we will win. 


Disclaimer:

This interview never happened It is literary device to summarize President Putin's real views, on his real concepts and plans

Thursday, 16 November 2023

False Flag Self inflicted Attack

 False Flag Self inflicted Attack

Case Study

The Jackson Hinkle  X account is a right wing embedded AI or Troll Farm animated account that frequently uses many disinformation tactics described here. As the account become exposed, I recently saw a counter attack where he made it appear that NAFO had created a deepfake Pic attacking democracy,

  •  The original source was a Jihadnik
  • he modfied the original PIC and baited for #NAFO 
  • Some #NAFO actors failed to verify and reposted the image
  • then the account Captured the Repost
  • Posted it as an original post
  • played the martyr card.


- 11/16/23

Tuesday, 14 November 2023

Firehose of Falsehood

 

Created by Bakka @Vatniksoup.com

Thursday, 9 November 2023

Amplification

  1. Identify a naturally occurring conflict in real time in social media
  2. slightly alter and retweet both sides of the conflict
  3. deliberately provocative original tweets on both sides
  4. harvest addresses of  "Likes" for the follow libraries
  5.  Walk away
Case Studies

  • 2023 Hamas-Israel war
  • Presidential Elections
  1. Target of Opportunity



Wednesday, 25 October 2023

DeepFake Videos

 

DeepFake

The term deepfake is typically used to refer to a video that has been edited using an algorithm to replace the person in the original video with someone else (especially a public figure) in a way that makes the video look authentic.


DeepFake services



What is DeepFake Video?:  PC Magazine


 


DeepFake Video and Troll Farms  ZDNET


Deepfakes and the elections NPR

Monday, 23 October 2023

Tactics List

 Algorythm Gaming

  • Driving specific content via algorithmic understanding (e.g., search engine optimization or hashtag manipulation)

Bots for astroturfing

  • Using large numbers of inauthentic (fake) accounts (bots) to create the appearance of a broad consensus on a topic

Advertising

  • Paid promotional content to support a cause or actor

Cheapfakes and recontextualized media

  • a Supporting a campaign either with simple edits or by repurposing media (usually, images)4
Memes and meme wars
  • Use of easily shared “units of culture” (often, a slogan incorporated into an image) to promote a cause or actor
Misinfographics
  • Infographics that appear professional and authoritative but are inaccurate or misinforming

AstroTurfing

 Astroturfing is defined by the as “attempt[ing] to create the false perception of grassroots support for an issue by concealing [actor] identities and using other deceptive practices, like hiding the origins of information being disseminated or artificially inflating engagement metrics” 

 Ultimately, the risk is that next-generation astroturfing could pose a direct challenge to democratic societies, if malign actors are able to covertly shape users’ shared understanding of the domestic political conversation and thus subvert the democratic process.

Technology and Social Change Project at (Harvard Kennedy School Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics, and Public Policy, 2022,)

 Note that the only source for this divisive Image was sited as "Screen Grab"



 here is the real original story when it opened, as far as I can find:
  • it vegan coffee shop
  • It was an optional charge one week a month to make a point
  • There were 3 Rules:
    • women get priority seating
    • 18% sir charge for men
    • Respect goes both ways
  • it did eventually go out of business  2 years later
  • Note that the "Screen Grab" deleted the mutual respect rule on the board 
Doppelganger Project (Pekka)

A Russian Funded group in Europe that designs and carries out sophisticated astroturf operations
  • Hiring local actors
  • Short protest Scripts in front of key landmarks for video 
  • prepared in advance
  • launched all at once





Thursday, 19 October 2023

Bait and Switch

 Troll Tactic:  Bait and Switch

In this tactic, Trolls  or troll bots will:

  •  Machinegun a popular Hashtag with reliable reposts every minute or 2 from people with real timely information
  • This crowds out the real posters so you can't read anyone but the troll
  • Vatniks or people really interested in the topic come to trust the the troll as a source.
  • A little at at time, they will begin to spin the truth reflecting their client's talking points. (in the case below, the Russian Propaganda Directorate)  
  • The troll may linger as a trusted source to real people for months, or for useful idiots, for years.
  • It may even change their mind.

Case Study: Bakmut

I was really impressed by the sophistication of this when I was tracking a battle in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I tracked #Bamut, the city where a big campaign happened for a long time, and there were frequent posts to that hashtag with good information. Hundreds per day, and I checked it frequently ( at least daily)

  • I began to see the same poster over and over again posting reliable (at first) information 
  • I validated it elsewhere, and it was true. They even celebrated Ukraine victories. 
  • In the heat of battles, I noticed reposts every 3-5 minutes by the same poster.
  • When it began to go bad for the Russians, this poster began to speculate and then site sources  saying that the Ukraine counter offensive had failed - a clear Russian Troll Farm talking point at the time.
  • I checked the sources they sited, and they were bots, trolls, or useful idiots who had reposted a bad source. 
  • I finally blocked them,  and was able to see real  information back at the hashtag again-but I had initially let my guard down.
Conclusion

Bait and Switch is an effective mi-information tactic that I hear is a direct import the Russians have perfected on their own people over many years.

Troll Hunting Resources

  •  This page is a growing list of people who are also studying digital manipulation.
  •  Each have their own agenda and reason for doing this work, 
  • If they are listed here  I find their work Useful.
  • I cannot vouch for their ongoing authenticity, reliability or accuracy - after all we are hunting trolls, and sometimes trolls pose as troll hunters. 

an active page with a great and growing list of Troll Farm related Terms

The #NAFO Movement 



This is an X (Twitter ) a global online community that has been running 24 hours a day since the first shot of the Russian invasions of Ukraine- I found real Experts, military of all branches and countries, non-profits, journalists, statisticians, Intelligence analysts,  government lobbyists, Film makers, PHD political and historical experts, mostly reliable, teaching a community that includes people like me how to gather, listen to and analyze the information we were getting about the war. I know that community also includes frustrated trolls, since I hear them speak up frequently.


The work of  Pekka Kallioniemi  a university Professor from Finland who has studied media manipulation and propaganda, and has a funny and educational set of media including videos. I am shamelessly stealing some of his terms and concepts - His utube channel is great- vatniksoup


 


  1. Basic computer programming Semi-automated bots that post human-generated, nontailored content 
  2. Early machine learning Low-quality manipulated videos; limited computer-generated content with limited scale; some distribution by procedural bots 
  3. Generative AI High-quality tailored fake text and images at scale; advanced, dynamic, automated distribution and coordination

Technology and Social Change Project  (Harvard Business School )Ended in 2023, but here are their Archives



MIT Tech Review article 2020 - they found 5 troll Farms- FB took down 2 of them after the article

MIT Technology Review is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and editorially independent of the university. It was founded in 1899 as The Technology Review, and was re-launched without "The" in its name on April 23, 1998, under then publisher R. Bruce Journey. In September 2005, it was changed, under its then editor-in-chief and publisher, Jason Pontin, ... Wikipedia

y= was controlled by Troll Farms in 2019-check today to see if they still are
1Be Happy Enjoy LifeY
2Jesus is my LordY
3You CanY
4Speak LoudlyY
5Purpose of LifeY
6Positive QuotesY
7Memories of a loved oneY
8Smile & ShineY
9Light of the WorldY
10Why Not Us?Y
11Happiness Is In Your MindY
12My LifeY
13Life is BeautifulY
14BlessingY
15Conscious ReminderY
16BlessedY

 Report on Chinese Deepfake Videos  via MIT Tech Review


a great History of Trolling and How it became a business Model.

Media Bias raters