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[LordOfLore]

Link.

Oh boy. What a day for Twitter. First we have thousands of accounts, including those belonging to the BBC, Amnesty International, and Forbes, compromised by a third-party app forcing them to tweet pro-Erdoğan propaganda and swastikas, and now we have this.

The Russian Embassy in the UK, which previously made headlines for its stint in the President Trump Meme War, has concocted an innovative method to garner social media support: it's turning its Twitter followers into automated news bots.

"Welcome to the world of digital diplomacy," declares the Embassy of the Russian Federation to the UK. "Diplomacy of the future!"

Let's dig in. The scheme is part of the embassy's Russian Diplomatic Online Club, which promises members an insight into international policy and "all things Russian". Unlike a regular newsletter, which requires a user to hand over their email address in return for receiving news straight to their inbox, the Russian online club asks users to give over access to their Twitter accounts to a third-party app called Tweetsquad (more on this later).

Once a user's credentials are registered with Tweetsquad, that user will automatically follow the Twitter account of UK Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko, and automatically retweet one of his "most important" tweets each week. Essentially, users willingly sign up to become a Twitter bot for the Russian Embassy.

Motherboard created its own alt Twitter account, signed up for the service, and sat back to watch what happened. Soon enough, a tweet from Yakovenko appearing at the London Book Fair was retweeted by Motherboard's alt account with gusto! "Let's make reading books great again," Yakovenko tweeted.

But not only is handing over control of your Twitter account to a third-party app highly suspect at the best of times, the app the Russian Embassy is using has less than solid credentials. Motherboard was unable to contact the creator of Tweetsquad, as the contact form on the website is broken. A Twitter account belonging to Tweetsquad stopped tweeting years ago. In fact, there's little evidence online whatsoever that the app is even authentic or monitored any longer. Motherboard asked Twitter if it has any more information on the service, but the company has yet to reply.

Yakovenko's 'Tweetsquad' currently stands some 440 members strong, and his account is basking in that sweet RT glory, as evident from this tweet. But a closer audit of the types of accounts actually retweeting the tweet yields even more suspect results. A vast majority of the accounts that retweeted are simply nothing more than bots themselves. A random sample of four such 'eggs' reveals their sole tweet production exists exclusively of Yakovenko retweets, greatly inflating the appearance of the Embassy's Twitter impact.

In a time of politically motivated Twitter bots, fake news accusations, and a smart deployment of meme warfare, the Russian Embassy's Tweetsquads are an inventive new weapon as the war for political credibility navigates its way through the kingdom of social media. Motherboard contacted the Embassy to learn more about its social media strategy, but was simply encouraged to sign up to the service.

"Dear Sir," replied the Embassy's press office. "Thank you for your email. Please see www.rusemb.org.uk/dc You are most welcome to join!"

The fuck.

 

[Moppeh]

Russia's cyber game is strong.

 

[onadesertedisland]

Twitter is shit.

 

[iRAWRasaurus]

Twitter was a mistake.

 

[Pomerlaw]

Twitter is full of traitors.

 

[jelly]

So, close Twitter, Facebook etc. and world is saved.

 

[Kill Your Masters]

Russia's cyber game is strong.

Maybe it's just that Twitter and Facebooks cyber game is weak AF because they are unfit to handle these political agendas and takeovers of their platforms.

Yes they found a way to make money. Congrats! Thats about it. The responsibility that their platforms have is way above their heads and it's pretty obvious Zuckerberg and co. are not qualified to handle the hot mess that intruded their platforms.

 

[Boney]

That's a damn scary way of usurping identity and taking power from democratic platforms like Twitter

 

[wumster3000]

This has already been happening

 

[wesleyshark]

Twitter is shit.

Twitter was a mistake.

Twitter is run by imbeciles. This was inevitable.

 

[Thaedolus]

Death by 140 cuts

 

[Dierce]

What is Russia's endgame. A world divided by fascists and ultimately world war where they themselves will suffer?

 

[dark10x]

What is Russia's endgame. A world divided by fascists and ultimately world war where they themselves will suffer?

That's what I'm wondering. Is it just revenge at this point? It doesn't make sense.

 

[Killa Sasa]

Twitter becoming more and more of a net negative

Waiting for a country to buy this piece of shit and shutter it. It ain't worth it.

 

[x24hrs2livex]

This isnt really surprising. It's evident their is some sort of propaganda war going on between the CIA and Russia.

 

[perfectchaos007]

Russian bots may catfish me on Tinder next

 

[Earthstrike]

What is Russia's endgame. A world divided by fascists and ultimately world war where they themselves will suffer?

Stupider electorates in western democracies elect less competent leaders which weakens russia's geopolitical rivals. A population that cannot distinguish fact from fiction is easily manipulated (See: republican opposition to Nato)

 

[Sesha]

What is Russia's endgame. A world divided by fascists and ultimately world war where they themselves will suffer?

A weaker US and a weaker EU, I guess. I've seen some suggestions that Putin wants to resurrect the USSR.

 

[MilkyJoe]

Twitter is shit.

Indeed, I still cannot believe this shit is entwined in every aspect of the modern world.

 

[greycolumbus]

That's what I'm wondering. Is it just revenge at this point? It doesn't make sense.

Putin really hated Hillary, by all accounts.

 

[Ziltoidia 9]

Paid internet posters is pretty shitty.