Israeli twitter campagin on Iran?

[khad]

I just saw this on marxmail. Regardless of whether one supports the current protests in Iran, this is an interesting development.
http://www.chartingstocks.net/2009/06/proof-israeli-effort-to-destabilize-iran-via-twitter/



Israeli Effort to Destabilize Iran Via Twitter #IranElection

Monday, June 15, 2009 19:52 Posted in category Politics (http://www.chartingstocks.net/category/politics/)

http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/iran1-150x150.jpg (http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/iran1.jpg)
Right-wing Israeli interests are engaged in an all out Twitter attack with hopes of delegitimizing the Iranian election and causing political instability within Iran.

Anyone using Twitter over the past few days knows that the topic of the Iranian election has been the most popular. Thousands of tweets and retweets alleging that the election was a fraud, calling for protests in Iran, and even urging followers hack various Iranian news websites (which they did successfully). The Twitter popularity caught the eye of various blogs such as Mashable (http://mashable.com/2009/06/15/twitter-iran-election/) and TechCrunch (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/15/twitter-reschedules-maintenance-to-allow-iranian-protests-to-continue/) and even made its way to mainstream news media sites.

Were these legitimate Iranian people or the works of a propaganda machine? I became curious and decided to investigate the origins of the information. In doing so, I narrowed it down to a handful of people who have accounted for 30,000 Iran related tweets in the past few days. Each of them had some striking similarities -

1. They each created their twitter accounts on Saturday June 13th.
2. Each had extremely high number of Tweets since creating their profiles.
3. “IranElection” was each of their most popular keyword
4. With some very small exceptions, each were posting in ENGLISH.
5. Half of them had the exact same profile photo
6. Each had thousands of followers, with only a few friends. Most of their friends were EACH OTHER.

Why were these tweets in English? Why were all of these profiles OBSESSED with Iran? It became obvious that this was the work of a team of people with an interest in destabilizing Iran. The profiles are phonies and were created with the sole intention of destabilizing Iran and effecting public opinion as to the legitimacy of Iran’s election.

I narrowed the spammers down to three of the most persistent - @StopAhmadi (http://twitter.com/StopAhmadi) @IranRiggedElect (http://twitter.com/IranRiggedElect) @Change_For_Iran (http://twitter.com/Change_for_Iran)
I decided to do a google search (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=4Y2&q=StopAhmadi+AND+IranRiggedElect&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=) for 2 of the 3 - @StopAhmadi and @IranRiggedElect. The first page to come up was JPost (http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/persianabyss/entry/iranian_reactions_from_across_social) (Jerusalem Post) which is a right wing newspaper pro-Israeli newspaper.

JPost actually ran a story about 3 people “who joined the social network mere hours ago have already amassed thousands of followers.” Why would a news organization post a story about 3 people who JUST JOINED TWITTER hours earlier? Is that newsworthy? JPost was the first (and only to my knowledge) major news source that mentioned these 3 spammers.

JPost, a major news organization, promoted these three Twitterers who went on the be the source of the IranElection Twitter bombardment. Why is JPost so concerned about Iranian students all of a sudden (which these spammers claim to be)? I must admit that I had my suspicions. After all, Que Bono? (who benefits).

There’s no question that Israel perceives Iran as an enemy, more so than any other nation. According to a recent poll, more than half of Israel’s population support using military force against Iran if they do not cease from developing nuclear energy (which they have the legal right to do as per the NNP treaty). Oddly enough, this comes out of a country which is not a cosigner to the NNP treaty and has no right to develop nuclear energy, yet posses an arsenal of nuclear BOMBS.

Of course, Mousavi himself plays an important role in causing the social unrest within Iran. How often do you see a candidate declare himself the winner before any votes are counted and then, when faced with defeat, call the entire election process a fraud? As obvious as it was in our own 2000 election, Al Gore would not touch the topic of voter fraud. No major US politician goes near the subject. They know full well that such an accusation would shake the entire foundation of our democracy and threaten the political structures that are in place.

These twitting spammers began crying foul before the final votes were even counted, just as Mousavi had. The spammer @IranRiggedElect created his profile before a winner was announced and preformed the public service of informing us in the United States , in English and every 10 minutes, of the unfair election. He did so unselfishly, and without any regard for his fellow friends and citizens of Iran, who don’t speak English and don’t use Twitter! (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/twitter.com)

[Update] JPost removes the evidence (http://www.chartingstocks.net/2009/06/jpost-removes-the-evidence-and-issues-a-response-iranelection/) and issues a response

Meet The Spammers

IranRiggedElect (http://twitter.com/IranRiggedElect)
3146 followers. 31 friends.
340 tweets in past 4 days. none before that.
Top 5 words - iranelection, cnnfail, mousavi, tehran,
All tweets in English
Time: Bulk between 12pm and 2pm eastern standard time
Most retweets: @StopAhmadi @IranElection09 @change_for_iran

Change_for_Iran (http://twitter.com/Change_for_Iran)
14,000 followers. 0 friends
117 tweets in 2 days. none before that.
All tweets in English
Time: Bulk between 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm eastern.
Top 5 words: iranelection, people, police, right, students
No retweets

IranElection09 (http://twitter.com/IranElection09)
800 followers. 9 friends.
196 tweets in 3 days. none before that.
185 in English. 11 in Farsi (Arabic appearing letters. Not sure if it’s Farsi)
Time: bulk between 2:00pm and 6:00pm eastern. Also 1:00am.
Top 5 words: iranelection, rt, mousavi, tehran, march
Most retweets: @IranRiggedElect @StopAhmadi

StopAhmadi (http://twitter.com/StopAhmadi)
6199 followers. 53 friends.
1107 tweets in past 3 days. None before then.
top 5 words: iranelection, ppl, news, rt, iran.
All tweets in English
Time: bulk between 9:00am and 5:00pm eastern
Most retweets: @mohamadreza @mahdi

mohamadreza (http://twitter.com/mohamadreza)
1433 followers. 142 friends
(protected account. cant see data)
The following all have the same photo in their profile and are followed by the profiles previously mentioned.

http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/whereismyvote_normal.jpg (http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/whereismyvote_normal.jpg)
http://twitter.com/SadeqEn
http://twitter.com/greenvote
http://twitter.com/Change_for_Iran (14,000 followers)
http://twitter.com/iranbaan
http://twitter.com/sdavood
http://twitter.com/IranElection09 (800 followers. 9 friends.)
Click below for the JPost Article
http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/jpost-300x169.jpg (http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/jpost.jpg)

[Update 1] Reuter’s on Pre-election Polling: Ahmadinejad lead by a 2-to-1 ratio, greater than the announced results of the “contested” vote. (http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/16/worldupdates/2009-06-15T194027Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-403433-1&sec=Worldupdates)
[Update 2]NBC foreign correspondent Richard Engel says Twitter and Facebook are helping Iranians organize a “revolution.” (http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-and-facebook-are-fueling-a-revolution-clip-2009-6)
[Update 3] Wonder where all of the nasty comments are coming from? FYI- DDOS = distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is one in which a multitude of compromised systems attack a single target, thereby causing denial of service for users of the targeted system. (Recognize the avatar?) BUT….their latest spamming campaign (Against CS) is backfiring.
http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/twitts.jpg (http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/twitts.jpg)
Spammers get a taste of their own medicine!: Block CS eh? It’s not us being blocked…..
http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/tweetz.jpg (http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/tweetz.jpg)
[Update 4] The Guardian: (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jun/15/iran-election-polling) Iran’s election result may not be fraudulent. Our polling suggests that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory is what voters wanted
[Update 5] Iran blocked access to twitter (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/17/iran-bbc-jamming-bloggers-revolutionary-guard) yesterday BUT that doesn’t stop the “Iranian Students” from continuing to tweet every 10 or so minutes.
[Update 6] Iranian intelligence arrested “Agents” (http://www.presstv.com/detail/98346.htm?sectionid=351020101)within the country “who masterminded the recent post-election violence in Tehran.”
[Update 7] JPost removes the evidence (http://www.chartingstocks.net/2009/06/jpost-removes-the-evidence-and-issues-a-response-iranelection/) and issues a response


Disclaimer: Before I get attacked as being an Anti-Semite,you should know that I am half Jewish. Alternatively, I hope that people do not misinterpret this as some “JEWISH” conspiracy. It isn’t. These are the workings of the extreme right wing of Israeli politics. They have their own Bush’s and Cheney’s there too.

[khad]

Follow-up:



JPost Removes the Evidence and Issues a Response #IranElection

Wednesday, June 17, 2009 17:30 Posted in category Politics (http://www.chartingstocks.net/category/politics/)

http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/jerusalem_post_logo-150x150.jpg (http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/jerusalem_post_logo.jpg)In response to our recent post (http://www.chartingstocks.net/2009/06/proof-israeli-effort-to-destabilize-iran-via-twitter/), which traced the bulk of the #IranElection twitter spam back to an article in JPost (http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/persianabyss/entry/iranian_reactions_from_across_social)rather than “Iranian Students”, the Jerusalem newspaper has removed the evidence by altering their June 14th article (luckily, we kept the screenshot (http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/jpost.jpg)). JPost has also written a response (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1245184858248&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull) to our allegations.


We argued that the onslaught of #IranElection tweets may not have been the work of “Iranian students” as claimed but rather a group of people promoting the political interests of the right-wing of Israeli politics with the aim of magnifying the social unrest which followed the Iranian election.


In researching the origin of the thousands of tweets and retweets, we noticed that only a hand full of people were at the core of the #IranElection spam. After preforming a simple google search which sought to find when/where 2 of these people were mentioned together we found a JPost article which became the basis of our assertion.



Only hours after creating their twitter profiles, JPost ran an article (http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/persianabyss/entry/iranian_reactions_from_across_social) which instructed their readers to follow on twitter for up to date coverage of the Iran election. JPost was the first and only major news source that posted the links to these twitter accounts which would later become the source of most of the #IranElection spam.


Here is how the article looked at the time (Click for a better shot):
http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/jpost-300x169.jpg (http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/jpost.jpg)

And how it looks today: Notice that the 4th paragraph no longer provides the links to the 3 spammers which went on to become the source of much of the tweets.
http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/jpost2-300x169.jpg (http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/jpost2.jpg)



Now, I realize that I’ll be accused of somehow doctoring the first image so I’ve also attached a screenshot of the Google search (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=4Y2&q=StopAhmadi+AND+IranRiggedElect&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=)results (see below) for “StopAhmadi AND IranRiggedElect,” which are two of the three spammers. You can also check the search results for yourself (At this time google is still indexing the old version).
http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/google-300x169.jpg (http://www.chartingstocks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/google.jpg)


Of course, the editing of their original article begs another important question. WHY?? If my accusations were so ridiculous why would JPost remove the evidence which was at the core of my argument?? This does not help their case.


In response to our article (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1245184858248&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull), JPost Managing Editor Shani Rosenfelder writes “Our coverage of events in Iran is guided solely by professional journalistic considerations.”


The newspaper, in an attempt to debunk our allegations, writes:


“The “proof” [of our article] cited was an online entry published on Sunday on the Post’s “The Persian Abyss” blog, in which three very active Iranian Twitterers, whose tweets were widely circulated, were mentioned as part of an online documentation of Iranians’ reaction to the election results on social media outlets.”


At the time of that article, however, those three members had JUST JOINED twitter only hours earlier. Furthermore, JPost changed their original post which cites those “three very active Iranian Twitterers.” They disappeared. They are referring to that portion which they removed.
JPost was nice enough to refrain from personal attacks and even included the disclaimer:


“The writer allows that he does not think that the violence in Iran is a “Jewish conspiracy” because he is “not an anti-semite” and even claims that he is “half-Jewish.” Instead he maintains that “these are the workings of the extreme right-wing of Israeli politics” since “Israel perceives Iran as an enemy, more so than any other nation.”


I do appreciate the decency of the writer and while I find the article to be fair in its tone it neglected to directly answer the lingering questions -
Why did they run a story about 3 people who just joined twitter? “…part of an online documentation of Iranians’ reaction” does not explain why it was newsworthy to promote the profiles of 3 twitter members who just joined the site.

How did they find out about them so fast?

How were they sure that the profiles were authentic? These profiles were only hours old and had no names attached to them. They had no time to verify that these were, indeed, Iranian students.
And the latest:


Why did they remove the evidence if my allegations were so ridiculous?

[Dean]

The evidence is shaky. Maybe the JPost is responsible for some of the posted video, but what did they do? Stage it? :rolleyes:

The unrest is real, perhaps just not some of the english commentary. But with allies like CNN and NBC, why even worry about english commentary like this?

[Sentinel]

Moved to the Iranian Uprising -forum.

[Led Zeppelin]

I just saw this on marxmail. Regardless of whether one supports the current protests in Iran, this is an interesting development.


No it isn't, it's only interesting to "OMGZ IMPERIALISM IS BEHIND THIS CIA ISRAEL MOSSAD!!" freaks like you.


State TV showing programs about how Evil Internet is and US, Britain and Israel are all behind demonstrations. Also running mass media propaganda about US and Israel joint forces working in some Internet sites against Iran and saying Mousavi supporters are all criminals and they will stop them at any cost.Link (http://riseoftheiranianpeople.wordpress.com/latest-news/)

But I guess that is all fake.

You know what else is fake? The pictures and videos these people (yes, these twitter users specifically) posted of the demos, their dormitories, their wounds after they came back from the rallies, the time-delays from when they actually went to the demos to when they came back, their inactivity during Iranian time at night when they sleep, the huge amounts of information they posted before any other source verified it (including official Iranian media, such as the attack on the University which they reported as "attacking hooligans", but still reported), their inability to post for up to 12 to 20 hours after all phone lines were cut in Tehran because they use dial-up instead of cable to use their accounts (yes, you fool, that's how they managed to post when they cut off internet access) etc. etc. which all prove that they are in fact where they say they are.

But wait, perhaps Israel recreated all that in order to fool the people and fuel support for Mousavi! Yes! I mean, why would they not support a candidate who has the same position on them that the previous one has? It makes total sense! I mean, it wouldn't make sense at all for these Israeli accounts to support a anti-regime message right? No that would be suspicious!

How about reporting on the many twitter accounts the Iranian secret service created with false information about demos and actions which they used to lure people to those locations and then arrest and beat them.

But no, I guess that is not an "interesting development" to someone like you. :rolleyes:

[khad]

No it isn't, it's only interesting to "OMGZ IMPERIALISM IS BEHIND THIS CIA ISRAEL MOSSAD!!" freaks like you.
Yes, it is true and you know it....

[Led Zeppelin]

Yes, it is true and you know it....

Yes, that is what I said.

Thank you for confirming it.

Now turn off Iranian state television and stop parroting their propaganda.

[redguard2009]

Not surprising. LZ is completely obsessed with Iran all of a sudden, changed his signature and everything. Don't try to stop someone who's on a Crusade. Each and every aspect of this entire situation is pure unadultered revolutionary sentiment b oiling to the surface in the Iranian population. Any accusation that western-aligned capitalists, bourgeois middle class oppurtunists who are trying to take advantage of the situation to serve their own interests is blasphemy. We should all give our absolute unquestioning loyalty to the Great Proletarian Iranian Revolution which is right now occuring. Also, if you claim it isn't occuring, by golly you watch too much TV and don't know nearly as much as I do. I'm Iranian afterall, which gives me inside insight which you lack. Are you accusing me of overdoing it on this because I'm Iranian? That's racist right there.

In all seriousness, LZ is just going to continue to troll up and down these new forums (I SO bet it was his idea) about the sanctity of the Great Iranian Uprising regardless of anything anyone says.

I am interested in hearing more about western involvement/influence in this whole ordeal. It is interesting that Obama recently mentioned his disapproval of both Mousavi and Ahmadinajad openly. Either it was a move meant to shadow any involvement the US does have, or the US honestly doesn't see any promotion of Mousavi as being beneficial to its interests.

[Led Zeppelin]

redguard is of course angry that one of the brown people has decided to care about the liberation of people from the same nationality as him. He doesn't like it because he's not agreeing with what those brown people want.

Therefore he has decided to call this brown person out, and call him a racist for caring too much.

Hey, you brown Iranian person on Revleft! Stop caring so much about this! You stupid brown person must know your place!

Hey, you white racist piece of shit, why don't you go fuck yourself?

Also, it wasn't my idea to create this forum.

[ArabRASH]

Oh how i love the "EVERYTHING IS A JEWISH ZIONIST CONSPIRACY" crowd. Funny, I'm someone whose lived through a war with Israel, and I'm not even that crazy. Anyway to calm you down and prove you wrong read this:

"The reality in Iran is not going to change because of
the elections. The world and we already know [Iranian President
Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad. If the reformist candidate [Mir Hossein] Mousavi
had won, Israel would have had a more serious problem because it would
need to explain to the world the danger of the Iranian threat, since
Mousavi is perceived internationally arena as a moderate element … "

Do you know who said that? The head of the Mossad, Meir Dagan. Read the full article: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1093410.html

So pleassee pleasee just shut up and stop trying to de-legitimize this movement!

[PeaderO'Donnell]

redguard is of course angry that one of the brown people has decided to care about the liberation of people from the same nationality as him. He doesn't like it because he's not agreeing with what those brown people want.

Therefore he has decided to call this brown person out, and call him a racist for caring too much.

Hey, you brown Iranian person on Revleft! Stop caring so much about this! You stupid brown person must know your place!

Hey, you white racist piece of shit, why don't you go fuck yourself?

Also, it wasn't my idea to create this forum.

Do you realise how insane you sound?

Redguard has been making the point that real revolutions being made by brown people are being ignored while SKY news and your good self are focusing on a middle class uprising due to the Iranian people rejecting their neo-liberbal agenda.

If you honestly believe he is being racist than you are just insane.

[Led Zeppelin]

I love how ArabRASH's posts totally destroy the bubble that this "anti-imperialism" crowd is living in by showing that he, the person living in Lebanon, is not paranoid and freaky about the evil conspiracies of Israel and the United States running the movement in Iran but they, the people living in suburbs in Canada and the US, are.


If you honestly believe he is being racist than you are just insane.

This is no surprise at all coming from you.

Go away, I'm not entertaining your bullshit anymore.