Discussion

• @oneunderscore__ Ben Collins on x

  Scoop, story incoming: 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.

• @jordanwildon Jordan Wildon on x

  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...

• @jeffveillette Jeff Veillette on x

  Hate is an industry and as long as there are marks left to tap and minimal repercussions, they'll keep at it - even those just looking to profit with no stake in the social end https://twitter.com/...

• @the_nazmul @the_nazmul on x

  My findings support those of @Meta, as described in this story by @oneunderscore__. These marketers attempt to cash in on hot-button issues in the West. They build groups around these issues and then direct traffic to T-shirt selling websites. https://www.nbcnews.com/...

• @the_nazmul Nazmul Ahasan on x

  So I've found several other large Facebook groups (now deleted) run by Bangladeshi “marketers” trying to profit off of the Canadian or U.S. truckers' “Freedom Convoy”. I spoke to two marketers both based in Moulvibazar. Context: https://www.grid.news/... by @BySteveReilly and et …

• @broderick Ryan Broderick on x

  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://twitter.com/…

• @oneunderscore__ Ben Collins on x

  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. Story coming soon. https://twitter.com/...

• @bystevereilly Steve Reilly on x

  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://www.grid.news/...

• @noupside Renee DiResta on x

  “Manipulation” or “misinfo” are solid terms for describing some components of online influence but this is, simply, how influence works today. In any networked activism/protest movement that captures widespread attention, groups w/varying motivations pile in: money or ideology ht…

• @jordanwildon Jordan Wildon on x

  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://twitter.com/...

• @blackamazon @blackamazon on x

  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://twitter.com/...

• @carnage4life @carnage4life on x

  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. 🤔 …

• @anildash @anildash on x

  This has been true for some time. https://twitter.com/...

• @hiattb Brian Hiatt on x

  “We will get fooled again” is currently our national motto https://twitter.com/...

• @kylegriffin1 Kyle Griffin on x

  Overseas content mills are behind much of the Facebook support for trucker convoys: 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://www.nbcnews.com/...

• @sjdemas Susan J. Demas on x

  We see this playbook every time and social media companies do not care. https://twitter.com/...

• @profcarroll David Carroll on x

  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…

• @_karenhao Karen Hao on x

  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://www.technologyreview.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...

• @paulatics Paula Simons on x

  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://twitter.com/...

• @mattnegrin @mattnegrin on x

  These should objectively be called Facebook Convoys https://twitter.com/...

• @noupside Renee DiResta on x

  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://twitter.com/...

• @nandoodles @nandoodles on x

  The trucker convoy is — you guessed it — a grift to collect ad revenues. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @jordanonrecord Jordan Fischer on x

  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. See FB's statement to @oneunderscore__ below supporting that notion. https://twitt…

• @rexchapman Rex Chapman on x

  This is insane: “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…

• @gmbutts Gerald Butts on x

  Grassroots movement. https://twitter.com/...

• @jason_paladino Jason Paladino on x

  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???!

• @tedcruz Ted Cruz on x

  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. https://twitter.com/...

• @icromwell4van Ian Cromwell on x

  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://twit…

• @benjaminopowers Benjamin Powers on x

  We at @gridnews are continuing to cover this story cause it's not over - DMs are open and email in bio. https://twitter.com/...

• @vivekdotca Vivek Krishnamurthy on x

  @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://twitter.com/...

• @noahjnelson Noah J. Nelson on x

  We're all being played for chumps. And it's working. https://twitter.com/...

• @bcb_sara Sara Sanchez on x

  Every time I turn around Facebook (or Meta, or whatever) has allowed something to happen on their platform that is actively hostile to democracy. Great reporting here. Be sure you check out the full thread and article: https://www.grid.news/... https://twitter.com/...

• @joshkovensky Josh Kovensky on x

  This story makes me realize: the truck protests represent the arrival of hartals in the west https://www.grid.news/...

• @davelevitan Dave Levitan on x

  Well this all sure isn't getting any *less* strange https://www.grid.news/...

• @dabeard David Beard on x

  The secret money and Bangadeshi marketing firm backing the truckers' convoy in Canada. Oh, and QAnon, too. https://www.grid.news/...

• @twiceanya @twiceanya on x

  @BySteveReilly ... and here. we. GO. How foreign actors, QAnon and hate groups pervade the convoy movement's support: https://www.grid.news/...

• @ziahaiderrahman Zia Haider Rahman on x

  Anyone know how the Bangladesh connection arose here? https://www.grid.news/...

• @chrisanethery Chris Nethery on x

  Hey @JustinTrudeau Before you go blaming American right-wingers, maybe you should talk to the experts at @csiscanada . Well-funded Canadian/Sri-Lankan radicals? https://www.grid.news/... What does it mean? 🤔

• @jason_kint Jason Kint on x

  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. ht…

• @jordanonrecord Jordan Fischer on x

  More evidence the “trucker protest” is anything but. https://twitter.com/...