Twitter search spam campaign hides China riots, researchers say
(2022/11/29)
- Reference: 1669684511
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/11/29/twitter_search_spam_campaign_hides/
- Source link:
Twitter over the weekend was flooded with spam and suggestive ads in what appears to be an attempt to help the Chinese government hide news about rioters protesting coronavirus restrictions in China.
"Chinese bots are flooding Twitter with 'escort ads', possibly to make it more difficult for Chinese users to access information about the mass protests," wrote Mengyu Dong, a researcher with the Stanford Internet Observatory, a social media research project, in [1]a Twitter post . "Some of these [accounts] have been dormant for years, only to become active yesterday after protests broke out in China."
Other researchers [2]have similarly concluded that recent Twitter searches using Chinese characters for Beijing, Shanghai and other cities have been returning significantly more ads for escorts, gambling, and the like as a way to drown out politically sensitive search results.
[3]
Alex Stamos, director of the Stanford Internet Observatory, [4]said via Twitter that he'd previously warned about the risks billionaire Elon Musk was taking by [5]cutting so many of the company's staff and that this appears to be the first major failure to stop a government interference campaign under Musk's leadership.
[6]
[7]
Stamos [8]said the spam campaign, which produces escort ads and other content when Chinese city names are entered into Twitter search, appears to be "an intentional attack to throw up informational chaff and reduce external visibility into protests in China" given that Twitter is blocked within China.
China over the weekend saw [9]mass protests over the government's coronavirus lockdown policy in cities all across the country.
[10]
Musk – who relies on the favor of Chinese authorities to safeguard Tesla's market and assets in China and appears to have courted that favor with [11]government-appreciated remarks about Taiwan – attempted to make light of the pro-government influence operation through his recently purchased social media mouthpiece.
"The amount of pro psy ops on Twitter is ridiculous! At least with new Verified they will pay $8 for the privilege haha," he tweeted.
Then he followed up with [12]an image of [13]hate symbol Pepe the Frog , encircled by the phrase, "Honestly I don't care about this particular psyop."
[14]
The Chief Twit, as Musk has referred to himself, subsequently used his $44 billion personal social media bully pulpit to challenge Apple's decision [15]to mostly stop advertising on Twitter.
"Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter," he wrote. "Do they hate free speech in America?"
Twitter's own fact checking system Birdwatch explained in an addition to Musk's post that Apple's ad agency had recommended clients stop buying ads on Twitter and that Apple is exercising its right to free speech by not advertising.
[16]World's richest man posts memes as $44b Twitter acquisition veers off course
[17]Musk: Twitter will have 1 billion monthly users inside 18 months
[18]Multi-tasker Musk expects to reduce time at Twitter, seek another leader
[19]Starlink purchases 'Twitter takeover' ad package, Musk dismisses it as 'tiny'
Last week, Media Matters for America, a non-profit that monitors for conservative misinformation, [20]reported that Twitter [21]had lost 50 of its top 100 advertisers less than a month after Elon Musk acquired the social media site. At the time, Musk said he had purchased Twitter "to try to help humanity, whom I love," as he put it in [22]a letter he wrote to calm advertisers worried about his agenda and antics.
Apple – which coincidentally faces a potential iPhone shortfall [23]as a result of the lockdown protests in China and shares Musk's [24]deference toward the Chinese government as a matter of business interest – was not among controversy-shy advertisers listed by Media Matters and the iGiant did not respond to a request to confirm that it had dialed back its advertising on Twitter.
Musk, who manages to find time for social media arguments despite his supposed leadership role at other companies, subsequently claimed, "Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why."
Yet it appears Musk has some idea that Apple's alleged threat arises from not following the company's [25]iOS rules . Apple requires a 30 percent sales commission for in-app purchases and imposes content moderation requirements on social media services – something less evident on Twitter during the Musk regime than it was during previous management.
After professing ignorance about the cause of Apple's discontent, the Chief Twit posted [26]an image suggesting he would "go to war" rather than pay Apple's 30 percent app commission, which presumably would reduce revenue from in-app sales of any service Twitter chooses to offer through its iOS app.
War against Apple – in court, presumably, despite Musk's [27]gun pandering – has not worked out well for Epic Games, which failed to convince a judge that Apple's platform rules are unlawful. Nonetheless, that decision is being [28]appealed . What's more, cracks in Google's similar Play Store payment requirements [29]have [30]appeared .
So who knows. Musk might well benefit from joining the battle to break into Apple's walled garden and loot it. With sufficient help from government trustbusters, he might get the full $8 [31]demanded of companies, governments, and individuals seeking to make their free speech Twitter "Verified."
Meanwhile, mitigating Twitter search manipulation may have to wait for spam damage that Musk cares about. ®
Get our [32]Tech Resources
[1] https://twitter.com/dong_mengyu
[2] https://twitter.com/AirMovingDevice/status/1597034969293271040
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y4WR7HPLr90aKMFdD@0o5wAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://twitter.com/alexstamos/status/1597054230270906368
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/18/twitter_staff_resign_en_masse/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y4WR7HPLr90aKMFdD@0o5wAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y4WR7HPLr90aKMFdD@0o5wAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://twitter.com/alexstamos/status/1597054231705313281
[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu_0svRlB6o
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y4WR7HPLr90aKMFdD@0o5wAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://twitter.com/AmbQinGang/status/1578858531012640768
[12] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1597183438779342849
[13] https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/pepe-frog
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y4WR7HPLr90aKMFdD@0o5wAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1597285572699074560
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/18/twitter_staff_resign_en_masse/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/28/musk_twitter_slides/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/17/musk_testimony_tesla/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/15/starlink_purchases_twitter_takeover_ad/
[20] https://www.mediamatters.org/elon-musk/less-month-elon-musk-has-driven-away-half-twitters-top-100-advertisers
[21] https://www.mediamatters.org/elon-musk/less-month-elon-musk-has-driven-away-half-twitters-top-100-advertisers
[22] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1585619322239561728
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/23/foxconn_protest_iphone_factory/
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/05/apple_warns_suppliers_in_taiwan/
[25] https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/
[26] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1597302404239659008
[27] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1597165510595989504
[28] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/05/epic_vs_apple_vs_google_australia_delays/
[29] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/05/google_play_alternative_payments_test/
[30] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/02/play_store_payment_rules_india_paused/
[31] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1596053664338440192
[32] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
"Chinese bots are flooding Twitter with 'escort ads', possibly to make it more difficult for Chinese users to access information about the mass protests," wrote Mengyu Dong, a researcher with the Stanford Internet Observatory, a social media research project, in [1]a Twitter post . "Some of these [accounts] have been dormant for years, only to become active yesterday after protests broke out in China."
Other researchers [2]have similarly concluded that recent Twitter searches using Chinese characters for Beijing, Shanghai and other cities have been returning significantly more ads for escorts, gambling, and the like as a way to drown out politically sensitive search results.
[3]
Alex Stamos, director of the Stanford Internet Observatory, [4]said via Twitter that he'd previously warned about the risks billionaire Elon Musk was taking by [5]cutting so many of the company's staff and that this appears to be the first major failure to stop a government interference campaign under Musk's leadership.
[6]
[7]
Stamos [8]said the spam campaign, which produces escort ads and other content when Chinese city names are entered into Twitter search, appears to be "an intentional attack to throw up informational chaff and reduce external visibility into protests in China" given that Twitter is blocked within China.
China over the weekend saw [9]mass protests over the government's coronavirus lockdown policy in cities all across the country.
[10]
Musk – who relies on the favor of Chinese authorities to safeguard Tesla's market and assets in China and appears to have courted that favor with [11]government-appreciated remarks about Taiwan – attempted to make light of the pro-government influence operation through his recently purchased social media mouthpiece.
"The amount of pro psy ops on Twitter is ridiculous! At least with new Verified they will pay $8 for the privilege haha," he tweeted.
Then he followed up with [12]an image of [13]hate symbol Pepe the Frog , encircled by the phrase, "Honestly I don't care about this particular psyop."
[14]
The Chief Twit, as Musk has referred to himself, subsequently used his $44 billion personal social media bully pulpit to challenge Apple's decision [15]to mostly stop advertising on Twitter.
"Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter," he wrote. "Do they hate free speech in America?"
Twitter's own fact checking system Birdwatch explained in an addition to Musk's post that Apple's ad agency had recommended clients stop buying ads on Twitter and that Apple is exercising its right to free speech by not advertising.
[16]World's richest man posts memes as $44b Twitter acquisition veers off course
[17]Musk: Twitter will have 1 billion monthly users inside 18 months
[18]Multi-tasker Musk expects to reduce time at Twitter, seek another leader
[19]Starlink purchases 'Twitter takeover' ad package, Musk dismisses it as 'tiny'
Last week, Media Matters for America, a non-profit that monitors for conservative misinformation, [20]reported that Twitter [21]had lost 50 of its top 100 advertisers less than a month after Elon Musk acquired the social media site. At the time, Musk said he had purchased Twitter "to try to help humanity, whom I love," as he put it in [22]a letter he wrote to calm advertisers worried about his agenda and antics.
Apple – which coincidentally faces a potential iPhone shortfall [23]as a result of the lockdown protests in China and shares Musk's [24]deference toward the Chinese government as a matter of business interest – was not among controversy-shy advertisers listed by Media Matters and the iGiant did not respond to a request to confirm that it had dialed back its advertising on Twitter.
Musk, who manages to find time for social media arguments despite his supposed leadership role at other companies, subsequently claimed, "Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why."
Yet it appears Musk has some idea that Apple's alleged threat arises from not following the company's [25]iOS rules . Apple requires a 30 percent sales commission for in-app purchases and imposes content moderation requirements on social media services – something less evident on Twitter during the Musk regime than it was during previous management.
After professing ignorance about the cause of Apple's discontent, the Chief Twit posted [26]an image suggesting he would "go to war" rather than pay Apple's 30 percent app commission, which presumably would reduce revenue from in-app sales of any service Twitter chooses to offer through its iOS app.
War against Apple – in court, presumably, despite Musk's [27]gun pandering – has not worked out well for Epic Games, which failed to convince a judge that Apple's platform rules are unlawful. Nonetheless, that decision is being [28]appealed . What's more, cracks in Google's similar Play Store payment requirements [29]have [30]appeared .
So who knows. Musk might well benefit from joining the battle to break into Apple's walled garden and loot it. With sufficient help from government trustbusters, he might get the full $8 [31]demanded of companies, governments, and individuals seeking to make their free speech Twitter "Verified."
Meanwhile, mitigating Twitter search manipulation may have to wait for spam damage that Musk cares about. ®
Get our [32]Tech Resources
[1] https://twitter.com/dong_mengyu
[2] https://twitter.com/AirMovingDevice/status/1597034969293271040
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y4WR7HPLr90aKMFdD@0o5wAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://twitter.com/alexstamos/status/1597054230270906368
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/18/twitter_staff_resign_en_masse/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y4WR7HPLr90aKMFdD@0o5wAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y4WR7HPLr90aKMFdD@0o5wAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://twitter.com/alexstamos/status/1597054231705313281
[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu_0svRlB6o
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y4WR7HPLr90aKMFdD@0o5wAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://twitter.com/AmbQinGang/status/1578858531012640768
[12] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1597183438779342849
[13] https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/pepe-frog
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y4WR7HPLr90aKMFdD@0o5wAAANI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1597285572699074560
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/18/twitter_staff_resign_en_masse/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/28/musk_twitter_slides/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/17/musk_testimony_tesla/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/15/starlink_purchases_twitter_takeover_ad/
[20] https://www.mediamatters.org/elon-musk/less-month-elon-musk-has-driven-away-half-twitters-top-100-advertisers
[21] https://www.mediamatters.org/elon-musk/less-month-elon-musk-has-driven-away-half-twitters-top-100-advertisers
[22] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1585619322239561728
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/23/foxconn_protest_iphone_factory/
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/05/apple_warns_suppliers_in_taiwan/
[25] https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/
[26] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1597302404239659008
[27] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1597165510595989504
[28] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/05/epic_vs_apple_vs_google_australia_delays/
[29] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/05/google_play_alternative_payments_test/
[30] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/02/play_store_payment_rules_india_paused/
[31] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1596053664338440192
[32] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: 420
redpawn
The powerful are the only ones being denied free speech! Just ask Musk.
It is a good thing that Elon has a sturdy grasp on reality
that one in the corner
Oh, wait:
https://nitter.net/elonmusk/with_replies
"This is a battle for the future of civilization. If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that lies ahead."
$2.4 apiece is that important to Musk?
that one in the corner
Going after Apple for their "monopoly" on Twitter Apps is hardly going to convince Apple to buy any ad space from him. If he "wins", is the $2.4 apiece he gets back from Apple for each blue thingie *really* going to be worth more than the lost ad revenue?
Wonder if he'll figure out (he *is* a genius, after all) that the Twitter app is something that he also owns and he could just make that charge $12 per blue wotsit. That way, he will get the full $8 (plus a bit) that is his rightful due (!) *and* at the same time he can "punish" Apple by pointing out that Android users get it cheaper, then they'll all give up their iThingies because Twitter is *that* important! /s
Meanwhile, Musk is, of course, ignoring all the psyops fake news about Chinese interference, because he can plainly see that if you search for "Beijing" (spelt just like that) then of course you'll see entries about the protests and no escorts at all. Right, back to the important stuff: Apple could drop the Tesla ap, yes, they could, really, honest, that is clearly a blow against democracy.
420
OK, Musky - Who's free speech wins here? People in need of a voice or the combined forces of the Chinese government? The whole world is watching. Oh, sorry, we interrupted your delusional tweets about Apple and sleeping with guns.