It’s a lucrative gig for content creators, who can make $10 to $15 a day by smearing journalists and activists on social media. (From 2021)
of this year, the insidious hashtag #AnarchistJudges appeared on Kenyan Twitter timelines. Apparently driven by a number of faceless bots, and retweeted by a series of sock puppet accounts, the deluge of tweets cast suspicion on both the competence and integrity of senior High Court of Kenya judges that had just shot down the Constitutional Amendments Bill of 2021. Many falsely claimed the judges were involved in narcotics dealings, bribery, and political partisanship.
With the aid of Twint, Sprinklr, and Trendinalia, we trailed two months of data of disinformation attacks by mapping and analyzing specific hashtags that the perpetrators used on Twitter. In particular, we focused on Kenya’s Constitutional Amendment Bill, famously known as the Building Bridges Initiative , debates over which were roiling at the time. The criteria involved mapping certain accounts that posted malicious content targeted at Kenyan activists and judicial officers.
There is money to be made. Our sources said that they get paid between $10 and $15 to participate in three campaigns per day. Others are on a retainer that can go as high as $250 a month. This is in a country where many citizens earn $1 a day.frequent types of victims of these campaigns, our analysis found, were Kenyan journalists, judges, and activists.
Since the upheld ruling, these attacks have noticeably changed in their visual style. They’ve increasingly employed the look of newspaper editorial-cartoon caricatures and memes preferred by American right-wing Twitter, with repetition of particular templates using the images of the judges. This likely indicated a change of strategy at the top that sought to make the content more palatable and shareable.
Curiously, there is little evidence that such operations actually sway people’s opinions. But they do affect how Twitter users interact with their information environment. The ultimate goal appears to be to overwhelm users and create an environment where nobody knows what is true or false anymore.
Argentina Últimas Noticias, Argentina Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
How to Turn $10 Trader Joe’s Flowers Into a Fancy-Schmancy BouquetFour steps to dress up flowers—from the grocery store, bodega, even the farmstand—to make them a bit dressier, for any occasion or just because.
Leer más »
Goddess of Pop Cher Finally Divulged How She’s Kept Her Skin Glowing at 75 — & It’s All Thanks To This $10 CleanserThe Goddess of Pop, Cher, swears by this inexpensive cleanser for her sensitive skin.
Leer más »
Hawaii taps former star quarterback Timmy Chang as head coachThe University of Hawaii has hired former star quarterback Timmy Chang as its new head coach.
Leer más »
Goldman Sachs survey of small businesses finds hiring is No. 1 worryAlmost every small business owner in a Goldman Sachs survey is having trouble hiring — and two-thirds think the federal government has done too little to ease their hiring, supply-chain and inflation worries.
Leer más »
Supreme Court rejects GOP challenge to House proxy votingNEW: The Supreme Court has declined to hear Kevin McCarthy's lawsuit challenging voting by proxy in the House — which many lawmakers see as critical to minimizing coronavirus spread in Congress.
Leer más »
New Zealand Prime Minister Cancels Her Wedding Amid New COVID RestrictionsJacinda Arden unveiled new restrictions to try to slow the spread of the omicron variant.
Leer más »