Declassified Australia exposes and analyses a massive secret propaganda operation being run out of the US, that has been buried by Western media.
by Peter Cronau
by Peter Cronau
Part 9 - Attributing the ‘Information Operation’
Determining with absolute certainty the identity of the origin of these unprecedented influence operations described here is, according to the report writers, not possible.
However, using a standard of proof used by one of this report’s researchers, Graphika, to inculpate Russia in a previous operation of an influence campaign, it is surprising they could not reach a stronger conclusion.
In describing a leak of trade documents that threatened to benefit the UK Labour Party in the 2019 UK general election, Ben Nimmo of Grafika studied the leaks and later noted he ‘cannot provide attribution of the operation’, however the report boldly stated that the leaks were:
However, using a standard of proof used by one of this report’s researchers, Graphika, to inculpate Russia in a previous operation of an influence campaign, it is surprising they could not reach a stronger conclusion.
In describing a leak of trade documents that threatened to benefit the UK Labour Party in the 2019 UK general election, Ben Nimmo of Grafika studied the leaks and later noted he ‘cannot provide attribution of the operation’, however the report boldly stated that the leaks were:
‘disseminated in a similar fashion to Russian operation Secondary Infektion.’
‘amplified online in a way that closely resembles a known Russian information operation.’
‘the similarities … are too close to be simply coincidence.’
‘the account … made specific errors that were characteristic of Secondary Infektion.’
‘tweeting … resembled earlier amplification efforts by Secondary Infektion.’
‘amplified online in a way that closely resembles a known Russian information operation.’
‘the similarities … are too close to be simply coincidence.’
‘the account … made specific errors that were characteristic of Secondary Infektion.’
‘tweeting … resembled earlier amplification efforts by Secondary Infektion.’
The Graphika report was unashamedly titled: ‘UK Trade Leaks: Operators Keen To Hide Their Identityies Disseminated Leaked UK/US Trade Documents In A Similar Fashion To Russian Operation Secondary Infection Exposed In June 2019.’ It was obvious what would happen next.
Not unexpectedly the mainstream media picked up the report, consistently referring to it as a Russian disinformation operation, with headlines such as The Guardian’s ‘Russia involved in leak of papers’, SkyNews’s ‘Leaked documents cited by Corbyn ‘tied to Russia group’,’ and The Telegraph’s ‘Russians tried to interfere in election by promoting leaked trade documents touted by Jeremy Corbyn’.
The implications of such a condemnation helped sink the election campaign of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Some conclusions about the Stanford-Graphika ‘Unheard Voice’ report can be reached that hold a high level of certainty. In fact the degree of certainty looks to exceed that of Graphika’s ‘UK Trade Leaks’ report.
Not unexpectedly the mainstream media picked up the report, consistently referring to it as a Russian disinformation operation, with headlines such as The Guardian’s ‘Russia involved in leak of papers’, SkyNews’s ‘Leaked documents cited by Corbyn ‘tied to Russia group’,’ and The Telegraph’s ‘Russians tried to interfere in election by promoting leaked trade documents touted by Jeremy Corbyn’.
The implications of such a condemnation helped sink the election campaign of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Some conclusions about the Stanford-Graphika ‘Unheard Voice’ report can be reached that hold a high level of certainty. In fact the degree of certainty looks to exceed that of Graphika’s ‘UK Trade Leaks’ report.
It is apparent from its purpose, targeting, narratives, techniques, sources and even some meta-data left in their trail just who the creators of the covert Information Operations identified in the Stanford-Graphika ‘Unheard Voice’ report may be. The providers of the datasets the research is based upon have stated their views – Twitter states the ‘presumptive countries of origin’ for their data is the US and UK, and for Meta ‘the country of origin’ is the US.
The Information Operations, reported in the Stanford-Graphika report and described here by Declassified Australia, can be confidently stated as being operated by groups or individuals affiliated to US military entities, are promoting US military and US imperial aims in the targeted countries. Those targeted countries are all designated enemies of the US and methods and techniques exposed by the report are proven to have been used by US military propaganda units and indeed in some cases the links are direct. Much of their source information is originated from US-funded media sites, US embassies, and US military units, and, finally, metadata crumbs point to the US military.
The Information Operations, reported in the Stanford-Graphika report and described here by Declassified Australia, can be confidently stated as being operated by groups or individuals affiliated to US military entities, are promoting US military and US imperial aims in the targeted countries. Those targeted countries are all designated enemies of the US and methods and techniques exposed by the report are proven to have been used by US military propaganda units and indeed in some cases the links are direct. Much of their source information is originated from US-funded media sites, US embassies, and US military units, and, finally, metadata crumbs point to the US military.
Two sensitive sources have since spoken anononymously about this ‘most extensive covert pro-Western Information Operation on social media’ saying to the Washington Post that ‘US Central Command is among those whose activities are facing scrutiny’.
There does not seem to be any available evidence against such a conclusion, at this juncture, that this unprecedented Information Operation is a massive covert US military propaganda operation.
There does not seem to be any available evidence against such a conclusion, at this juncture, that this unprecedented Information Operation is a massive covert US military propaganda operation.
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