G5iO #AfghanLeaks| Disinformation & Propaganda Campaign to Sabotage Afghan Peace Process

As a flagship study, G5iO undertook data analytics to deconstruct coordinated disinformation & Info-Ops being undertaken by both India & Afghanistan to derail Afghan Peace Process [Thread]

Evidence indicates extensive use of bots, coordinated network behaviour and fake news pushed across @Twitter from sources linked to Afghanistan and Indian state machinery.

The frequency and intensity of these campaigns increased dramatically over the last 3 months once:

•US announced a final withdrawal date
•The Taliban gained military victories

Methodology:
•Twitter data was scraped from May 2020 – Aug 2021
•The data indicated key narratives, networks and user accounts running disinformation operations

•Insights were developed using comparative analysis of online hashtag activity with offline political and regional security events

•Artificial activity was defined as any activity from accounts engaged in platform manipulation, recently created and pushing inorganic content