Brexit - A Still Life
already posted
Dâoh! It was only two days ago too AND I gave the post a âlikeâ.
I gave yours a like because the first poster is a brilliant example of humanity
Worth posting twice, that.
Revelations of foreign interference in the UK election, uncovered by the ABC, have been described as âhighly alarmingâ by the Conservative Party, which will be writing to the Cabinet Office seeking urgent advice about how to combat it.
Ahead of the UK elections, the ABC has been monitoring five coordinated Facebook pages which have been spreading Kremlin talking points, with some posting in support of Nigel Farageâs populist Reform UK party â a key challenger to the Conservatives in the July 4 poll.
The five pages identified by ABC Investigations as being part of a coordinated network appear to have little in common. One page presents itself as a pro-refugee left-wing group, while others reference white supremacist conspiracy theories and use AI-generated images of asylum seekers to stoke anti-immigration fears.
The ABC has been able to link these seemingly disparate pages by examining the location data attached to the pagesâ administrators, tracking paid ads, and by analysing the pagesâ similar or shared content.
The ABC shared its findings with disinformation experts, who said the networkâs activity had the hallmarks of a Russian influence operation.
âFor me, itâs Russian,â said AI Forensics head of research Salvatore Romano.
AI Forensics is a European non-profit research organisation that published research in April about a covert influence operation called âDoppelgangerâ, and found that Facebook ads with pro-Russian messages were targeting EU voters. These ads, which reached more than 38 million users, were linked to EU-sanctioned Russian businessmen.
âNow if you ask Putin, Putin may say âno, itâs not usâ,â Mr Romano said.
âWhat is the smoking gun? Do you need to see these people behind their desks with the Russian flag?â
The ABC also shared its findings with the UKâs main political parties.
âThis is highly alarming,â a Conservative Party spokesperson told the ABC.
âWe have seen this kind of activity from hostile states before and will be writing to the Cabinet Office to see what can be done about itâ.
Accounts run from Nigeria
Despite Meta, the parent company of Facebook, promising to take steps to address foreign interference and hate speech during the UK elections, these pages have been able to operate unchecked.
The network identified by ABC Investigations consists of five Facebook pages with a combined 190,000 followers. The pages have repeatedly shared the same images, text posts, and talking points and often post around the same time.
The five pages all feature criticism of several UK parties including the Conservatives and Labour. Some of these pages have supported Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, with two calling him âthe peopleâs championâ.
Mr Farage came to prominence after spearheading the UKâs Brexit movement. His party is standing Reform candidates in some historically Conservative seats and could intensify the electoral wipe-out the incumbent party is expected to receive on July 4.
Facebook pages for local Reform UK branches have shared some of the AI-generated anti-immigration content from these pages but there is no evidence of direct involvement by the party.
Reform UK did not respond to ABC questions.
ABCâs analysis of the five pages found that while they claim to be based in the UK, most of the administrators for each page are based in Nigeria, with a small number being listed as based in the UK.
All the pages have run paid ads on Facebook. âPatriotic UKâ has also run political ads, with one in 2022 criticising western support of Ukraine and another this week supporting Mr Farage to win the UK election.
Ad library data showed it targeted the ads to British men who were older than 65 years old and were paid for using Nigerian currency (NGN).
The Nigerian connection is significant because previous online Russian propaganda networks were found to have been operating from Africa.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, in 2020 exposed Russia as being behind troll networks from Ghana and Nigeria, which was targeting US voters with disinformation.
Earlier this month, an ITV and Cardiff University investigation also traced a batch of suspicious accounts on TikTok that were pushing pro-Reform UK messages after a leaderâs debate to Nigeria.
Beyond the Nigerian connection, the five pages all promote Kremlin narratives â particularly those criticising Ukraine.
The âCommon Sense Britainâ page shared screenshots of anti-immigrant headlines from Russia Today (RT), a Kremlin-controlled media outlet.
âPatriotic UKâ shared conspiracy theories about an unfounded claim that the Jihadist terrorist attack in Moscowâs Crocus City Hall in March was orchestrated by the West; around the same time the left-wing page âBritBlendâ claimed Ukranian citizens had celebrated the mass murder.
The âBritish Patriotsâ page has shared a fake headline from a pro-Russian website about Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy being asked by the CIA to not embezzle money. The âBritBlendâ page in a post also copy-and-pasted a video caption from âBritish Patriotsâ criticising a British parliamentarian, without sharing the video or any further context.
âBritBlendâ and âBeyondBorders UKâ have also criticised Ukraine, painting it as a bloodthirsty state, with the former posting âthereâs only one side that celebrates the death of civilians and that is Ukraineâ. Both pages have argued that the UKâs support of Ukraine was a waste of money.
Britain is one of Ukraineâs most steadfast supporters, both in military aid and public opinion polling. Mr Farage was criticised last week for claiming the West had provoked Russian President Vladimir Putin into invading Ukraine.
He later clarified he disliked President Putin and opposed the invasion of Ukraine, but urged President Zelenskyy to seek a peace deal.
âDivision and chaosâ
Disinformation expert and political communications professor at the UKâs Loughborough University Andrew Chatwick said the content being pushed by the network identified by the ABC were about âsowing division and chaosâ.
âThese kinds of campaigns can generally undermine trust in the media environment and the electoral process,â he said.
âIf they [these pages] are coordinated⌠this fits with previous patterns we have seen, for example the activities of the Russian Internet Research Agency in the United States.â
AI Forensicsâs Salvatore Romano said the ultimate benefactor of the division wrought by these networks was the Kremlin.
âWe are in a critical moment where there is an escalation of international conflicts and digital warfare is basically in the middle between diplomacy and actual war,â he said.
âThis type of interference will intensify. Itâs a serious concern ⌠itâs a deliberate attack to freedom of information and a deliberate attack to democracy.â
Meta earlier this month launched a UK-specific âElections Operation Centerâ to âidentify potential threats and put mitigations in place in real timeâ.
Metaâs UK Public Policy director Rebecca Stimson said one of the companyâs pillars of focus would be countering covert influence operations and identifying and stopping coordinated unauthentic behaviour.
âWe applied new and stronger enforcement to Russian state-controlled media, including blocking them in the EU and the UK and globally demoting their posts.â
Meta was reached for comment and was provided with the ABCâs findings about the five pages and at time of publication the pages were still active.
UK Labour was contacted for comment.
None of the identified pages in the pro-Russian network responded to ABC questions.
First past the post should sort out both the Reform and the Tories.
Arrived in London today. Just outside of Heathrow was a Reform billboard saying âMake Tories Cry. Vote Reform.â In small type below that was âThe IMMIGRATION Electionâ.
Interesting choice of location.
Meanwhile âŚ
Nige doing all he can to cover for his ragbag of candidates he pulled together for Reform UK.
BBC News - Reform UK drops three candidates over offensive comments - BBC News
Polls not moving:
A classic troll, l doubt that l have ever seen a better one.
If this is true then that is bad
Deckchairs overboard over at Nige HQ.
Given Reform UK are polling well over 15% now theyâre bound to have something between 7-10 MPs in the HoC after this GE, polls predict via MRP method. Itâll be lively at times in there thatâs for sure.
Yeah, but apart from that theyâve been OK⌠ish.
So spot on and yet so delusional, and so repulsive
Guardian.
Former home secretary Suella Braverman has urged the Conservative Party to âread the writing on the wallâ and âprepare for the reality and frustration of oppositionâ.
Writing in The Telegraph, Braverman says victory should no longer be the goal for the Tories.
âThursdayâs vote is now all about forming a strong enough opposition,â she writes.
âOne needs to read the writing on the wall: itâs over, and we need to prepare for the reality and frustration of opposition.â
Braverman blames the situation on a fracture within the Conservative Party resulting from a rise in Nigel Farageâs Reform UK.
It is notable that Labourâs vote share has not markedly increased in recent weeks, but our vote is evaporating from both Left and Right.
The critics will cite Boris [Johnson], Liz [Truss], Rwanda, and, I can immodestly predict, even me as all being fatal to our âcentristâ vote.
The reality is rather different: we are haemorrhaging votes largely to Reform. Why? Because we failed to cut immigration or tax or deal with the net zero and woke policies we have presided over for 14 years.
We may lose hundreds of excellent MPs because of our abject inability to have foreseen this inevitability months ago: that our failure to unite the Right would destroy us.â
Braverman says the Tories need âa searingly honest post-match analysisâ, âbecause the fight for the soul of the Conservative Party will determine whether we allow Starmer a clear run at destroying our country for good or having a chance to redeem it in due course.
âIndeed, it will decide whether our party continues to exist at all.â
I wouldnât bet on it. As they donât have preferential voting (let alone proportional representation) the right vote is likely to split between Conservatives and Reform, leaving the Labour candidate to Bradbury themselves to a win.
Farage himself may be an exception, as he has a high enough personal profile he can gain a plurality of votes.