Russian Twitter accounts linked to UK attack posts

By Muhammad Mussa

LONDON

Russian-linked fake social media accounts were used to influence and interfere with public debate following four terrorist attacks in the U.K. this year.

Researchers at Cardiff University’s Crime and Security Research Institute (CSRI) said at least 47 different Twitter accounts linked to Russia posted controversial material in the aftermath of attacks at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Finsbury Park in London plus Manchester Arena.

Of the 47 accounts, eight were especially active, tweeting at least 475 messages across four attacks, which were then reposted more than 153,000 times.

The CSRI also voiced concern that third parties were taking measures aimed at targeting public debate and opinion “across multiple positions on the ideological spectrum” and that these accounts had used both sides of this spectrum to increase discord and friction online.

Fake account owners would direct inflammatory messages towards “thought communities” that are aligned with and more sympathetic to right-wing groups.

As such there are many instances of them “@ing” figures such as Nigel Farage, the former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party or Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League.

The research also mentioned that: “In the wake of the 2017 terrorist attacks, platforms such as Twitter and Facebook were used to spread rumors, fake news and conspiracy theories to amplify and extend the impact and harm associated with the incident.”

Furthermore “evidence suggests a systematic strategic political communications campaign being directed at the U.K. designed to amplify the public harms of terrorist attacks”.

Professor Martin Innes, who led the research team and directs the CSRI, concluded that although the use of Russian-linked social media to engineer social division within the U.K. is not unknown, with the aftermath of the four terrorist attacks, it is now considerably more extensive than previously thought.

The CSRI obtained the identities of the Russian Twitter accounts from several open-source information datasets, which included releases from U.S. Congress investigations and the Russian magazine RBC.