DR. DASHANNE STOKES' CALL FOR ACTION IN RESPONSE TO RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE HACKING AND TWITTER BOT ATTACKS
July 14, 2018 | Press Release
Pittsburgh, PA - Today, Dr. DaShanne Stokes released the following statement following Twitter suspending accounts linked to Russian intelligence operations, hacking efforts in the 2016 election, and multiple attacks against Dr. Stokes' Twitter account:
Following a tweet from Donald Trump about Twitter removing fake accounts on July 7, 2018, my Twitter account was attacked multiple times. The origins and intention behind the attacks are not clear, but these attacks appear as though they may be part of a campaign to discredit my work, harm my career and reputation, and possibly to influence U.S. elections and public debate.
On July 7, 2018, Donald Trump sent a tweet claiming that "Twitter is getting rid of fake accounts at a record pace. Will that include the Failing New York Times and propaganda machine for Amazon, the Washington Post, who constantly quote anonymous sources that, in my opinion, don't exist - They will both be out of business in 7 years!"
About an hour after Trump sent this tweet, over a thousand of what appear to be fake followers were dumped into my Twitter account without my knowledge, approval, or involvement. The attacks have been very alarming, both personally and for their larger implications.
To understand the significance of this attack, it's helpful to understand Twitter rules. Twitter rules prohibit users from purchasing followers. Appearing to have purchased followers opens the door for Twitter to suspend an account for violating their rules. Purchasing followers can also harm the image and 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, including many commentaries and analyses of the Trump administration, has been quoted in hundreds of news and media outlets around the world.
On July 7, I blocked over a thousand of the fake followers dumped into my account after Trump's tweet. I also reported about a dozen or so of the fake accounts to notify Twitter of the attack as both targeted harassment and as a security risk. While two of the accounts I reported were known and being investigated by Twitter, Twitter staff said that many of the fake follower accounts I reported were not in violation of their rules. Despite Twitter also removing another thousand or so of the fake followers that were dumped into my account a second time, another thousand were very quickly dumped right back in a third time. Twitter apparently did not take action to stop those responsible, and the attack continued.
As a well-known critic of the Trump administration, a large part of which has been through Twitter, I am no stranger to being attacked on Twitter for opposing the Trump administration. I have gotten threats from Trump supporters, including personal attacks, impostors on Twitter trying to attack me and undermine my credibility, personal attacks laden with vulgarity and hate speech, and threats of violence and death. To me, this is not surprising considering Donald Trump appearing to have encouraged Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's emails. It is also not surprising given Donald Trump's history of inciting violence against those who oppose him. And I know I am far from alone.
It is unclear who is behind these attacks or what their intentions might be. Getting my account suspended or by hurting my credibility, however, such as by making it appear that I violated Twitter rules, would partially silence my criticism of Trump, hurt my career, and undermine my credibility. Having my account suspended would also do tremendous harm to the work I do to hold the Trump administration accountable to the truth and basic human decency. It would also hurt my years of work advancing racial equality, women's and LGBT equality, and to end gun violence.
Some months before these attacks, Twitter emailed me to notify me that I, like many others, had been affected by the Russian propaganda efforts of the Internet Research Agency. Articles also continue to come out detailing continued efforts by Russian bots targeting Democrats. Twitter suspended two accounts linked to Russian intelligence that appear to have been part of Russia's act of war agaist America in the 2016 election.
Articles also continue to come out detailing continued efforts by Russian bots targeting Democrats. Russian bots have attacked high-ranking Democratic officials. Bots have attacked members of the Trump administration. Even some of Donald Trump's Republican rivals have been targeted in an apparent effort to help Donald Trump and sow chaos and division in American society. Russian bots have also been known to target people in swing states, like Pennsylvania where I live. Bots have also active on topics that I have frequently commented on, like the Russia probe, white supremacist marches (like the attack at Charlottesville), Black Lives Matter, and the #TakeAKnee movement.
While I do not have security training, I have taken a look at some of the fake followers dumped into my account. In addition to attacking my account, many of the fake accounts seem to have initially targeted a particular pool of 130 people in addition to myself--a number which has grown ten percent in the past week to 143 people who are also apparently being targeted. Judging from the targeted accounts I looked at, this pool seems to favor those with 5,000 or more followers (some with many, many more), meaning they appear to be people with some influence and, collectively, have the potential to influence national debate and the action of many, many people.
I have also observed that many of the fake accounts seem to draw from the same pool of images for their profile pictures. I have seen, for example, repeated use of the Pizza Hut logo, use of certain anime and cartoon pictures, a cartoon of "Tigger," a picture of Arnold Schwarteneggar as the "Terminator," Casper the Friendly Ghost, the MTV logo, and Darth Maul from Star Wars. Many of the accounts also seem to follow very close to the same number of other accounts. Also, none of the fake accounts dumped into my follower list seem to have bios, and none seem to have header images for their profiles. The random sample of ten fake accounts I looked into were all created in July, 2018. The pattern among these fake accounts suggests that they are linked and are being orchestrated by the same person or group.
As I reported to Twitter, Twitter abuse reporting tools did not give me any option to report that my follower list had been flooded with fake accounts. And when I reported a number of the fake accounts, along with detailed descriptions of what was happening, I was told that they were not in violation of Twitter rules. And the attack continued.
Beyond how this targeted harassment affects me personally, I can't help but worry where this may go. Are those behind the fake accounts devising means to slip under the radar of Twitter security, such as by taking action that makes them not technically in violation of Twitter's current rules? Are these fake accounts being set in place to be used later in an attempt to influence me and others? How can this targeted harassment, an orchestrated attack against over a hundred people, not be in violation of Twitter rules? Doesn't that open us to more attacks?
After what happened in the 2016 election, the implications are scary and deeply disturbing to think about. Twitter needs to take these attacks seriously and take corrective action to improve their abuse reporting tools, to better identify fake accounts and bots, and to better protect those under attack. Taken together, they represent not only a form of targeted harassment that can harm careers and livelihoods, but are an attack that can seriously hurt the future American democracy.
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