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Sock puppet network case study

Absolutely years ago I wrote a fake Twitter account from the POV of an odd sock that got lost down the back of a chest of drawers. It was to some extent a satire of how all the inauthentic Twitter accounts were absolutely all Bad Russians, hence the name Socky Sockitskova.

When I got bored of that it became the cat’s Twitter feed for a while (her name was Pusshkin but I couldn’t be bothered to change the account name).

Anyway: this is quite a neat little case study of how fake accounts that at least try to appear real are used to shore up fake narratives.

The Unfold website is worth a minute or two of your time: it’s really low effort

…they didn’t even bother keeping the typography consistent between the X account and ‘actual’ website. They did manage to cover the terrifying “antisemitic” attack in Golders Green the other day. Prolly be gone by next week.

They are coy about who runs it… but left the Registrant Country unredacted :israel:

Domain Name: ufnews.io*

Registry Domain ID: a6210ace62e844da93edf52ca22734d4-DONUTS

Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.namecheap.com

Registrar URL: https://www.namecheap.com/

Updated Date: 2023-12-03T11:09:47Z

Creation Date: 2023-11-28T11:09:17Z

Registry Expiry Date: 2024-11-28T11:09:17Z

Registrar: NameCheap, Inc.

Registrar IANA ID: 1068

Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@namecheap.com

Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.9854014545

Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited EPP Status Codes | What Do They Mean, and Why Should I Know? - ICANN

Registry Registrant ID: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Registrant Name: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Registrant Organization: Privacy service provided by Withheld for Privacy ehf

Registrant Street: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Registrant City: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Registrant State/Province: Capital Region

Registrant Postal Code: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Registrant Country: IS

Registrant Phone: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Registrant Phone Ext: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Registrant Fax: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Registrant Fax Ext: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Registrant Email: Please query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name.

Registry Admin ID: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Admin Name: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Admin Organization: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Admin Street: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Admin City: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Admin State/Province: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

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Admin Phone Ext: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Admin Fax: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Admin Fax Ext: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Admin Email: Please query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name.

Registry Tech ID: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Tech Name: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Tech Organization: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Tech Street: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Tech City: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Tech State/Province: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Tech Postal Code: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

Tech Country: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY

2 Likes

Out of idle curiosity I clicked to see if Unfold is still going and, for now, it is. They reported a generous govt donation of £18m for protecting Jewish institutions against antisemitism. The other side are at it too:

https://www.w4mpjobs.org/JobDetails.aspx?jobid=91866

Labour Friends of Israel are seeking an Events and Office Manager for a 12-month period. The job will consist of hasbara sock puppetry and diversionary tactics during the General Election campaign. (Ok, I made that up, but only a bit.)