PRESS ROOM | DR. DASHANNE STOKES

Sociologist, author, speaker, and pundit.

 

DR. DASHANNE STOKES' CALL FOR ACTION IN RESPONSE TO RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE HACKING AND CONTINUED TWITTER BOT ATTACKS

July 17, 2018 | Press Release


Pittsburgh, PA - Today, Dr. DaShanne Stokes released the following statement following Russian intelligence operations, hacking efforts in the 2016 election, and continued attacks against Dr. Stokes' Twitter account:

 


As I have reported in a previous statement, my Twitter account was attacked multiple times after Donald Trump's July 7, 2018 tweet about Twitter removing fake accounts. Despite my efforts and some action on behalf of Twitter to remove fake accounts, the attacks continue. That the attack against my account persists over multiple attacks tells me that Twitter isn't doing nearly enough to shore up their security or to protect their hundreds of millions of users. This is not what you want to see with attacks from Russia leading up to the midterms or the coming 2020 presidential election.


The person or group behind these attacks is persisting and appears to be adapting their tactics in response to action against them. Many of the fakes initially targeted a pool of 130 people in addition to me. Some now target 175 to over 200 others. This represents a significant increase of over 50% for some of these fraudulent accounts. This pool seems to favor those with 5,000 or more followers (some more), meaning people with collective influence.


Initially, I observed many of the accounts drew from the same pool of images for profile pictures. Many follow very close to the same number of other accounts. Previously, most had no bios or header images for their profiles. Now, some are adding bios and a single tweet, often using common sayings or colloquialisms. They all appear to have been created in July, 2018. The pattern among these accounts suggests that they are linked and are being orchestrated by the same person or group. As they have been changing and adapting their tactics, apparently to make them harder to identify, I would expect this to continue.


Appearing to have purchased followers opens the door for Twitter to suspend an account for violating rules. Purchasing followers can also harm the credibility which a person's career and livelihood may rely upon. I depend heavily on my Twitter account as part of my career and work as a writer, speaker, and political commentator. My work on Twitter has been quoted in hundreds of media outlets around the world.


As an extra security measure, I encourage others on Twitter to only follow, reply to, share, like, or retweet known and trusted sources, ideally limiting your interactions to those who are verified on Twitter or who you know personally. Please also be sure to report fake accounts and suspicious or fraudulent behavior to Twitter. This will help to prevent additional attacks and reduce the spread of misinformation and propaganda.


With known attacks from Russia, these attacks represent not only targeted harassment, but also pose a significant security risk. They can potentially be used to spread misinformation and propaganda. I call on Twitter to investigate these attacks, to institute stronger security measures, and to update their abuse reporting tools to enable users to report fake accounts, bots, and other fraudulent and suspicious behavior. After what happened in the 2016 election, and with the continued attacks against Democrats since then, we must do more to protect our democracy, even on Twitter.


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