[rad-green] RussiaGate, UK version

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-election-foreign/leak-of-papers-before-uk-election-raises-specter-of-foreign-influence-experts-idUSKBN1Y620A





*Reuters          December 2, 2019Leak of papers before UK election raises
'specter of foreign influence': expertsBy Jack Stubbs*

LONDON - The leak and distribution of classified British-U.S. trade
documents online resembles a disinformation campaign uncovered this year
that originated in Russia, according to experts who say it could signal
foreign interference in Britain’s election.

[image: image.png]
*FILE PHOTO: Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn holds
up documents as he poses for a picture with NHS staff, after a press
briefing during a general election campaign event in London, Britain
November 27, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo*

The opposition Labour Party said on Nov. 27 the classified documents, which
first appeared online on Oct. 21, showed the ruling Conservatives were
plotting to offer up the state-run National Health Service for sale in
trade talks with Washington.
The NHS is much loved by Britons and has become an important issue in the
Dec. 12 election, in which Labour trails the Conservatives despite cutting
its lead in some opinion polls.

Researchers at Britain’s Oxford and Cardiff universities, the Atlantic
Council thinktank and social media analytics firm Graphika said the way the
documents were first shared online mirrored a campaign called Secondary
Infektion.

Secondary Infektion, uncovered by the Atlantic Council in June, used
fabricated or altered documents to try to spread false narratives across at
least 30 online platforms, and stemmed from a network of social media
accounts which Facebook said “originated in Russia.”

“It’s on the same set of websites (as Secondary Infektion), it’s using the
same types of accounts and making the same language errors. It’s either the
Russian operation or someone trying hard to look like it,” said Ben Nimmo,
head of investigations at Graphika.

Reuters has been unable to verify whether the documents are genuine. Labour
and the British government declined immediate comment. In Washington, the
U.S. Trade Representative did not respond to requests for comment.

It is not clear who was behind either operation and cyber experts say it is
hard to attribute malicious actions online with certainty.

Moscow has denied allegations of election meddling and the Kremlin did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Whoever did this ... was absolutely trying to keep it a secret,” said
Graham Brookie, director of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic
Research Lab. “It carries the specter of foreign influence.”

“SOWING CONFUSION”

A link to download documents with the same content and metadata as the
documents released by Labour was first shared on Internet discussion site
Reddit by a user who made language errors typical of non-native English
speakers.

A person with the same username and profile picture copied the Reddit post
to a website known for hosting conspiracy theories, and a Twitter account
with the same name and profile picture then tweeted the link to journalists
and politicians.

Another account simultaneously shared links to the Reddit post on three
German-language blogging websites.

The researchers interviewed by Reuters said the websites used to put the
information online, Twitter activity and language errors all resembled the
Secondary Infektion campaign.

Lisa-Maria Neudert, a researcher at Oxford University’s Project on
Computational Propaganda, said if Russia was behind the leak, its aim may
not have been to help any particular side in the election.

“We know from the Russian playbook that often it is not for or against
anything,” she said. “It’s about sowing confusion, and destroying the field
of political trust.”

Reuters has been unable to establish how the Reddit user or Labour acquired
the unredacted documents. The Reddit user did not respond to written
questions and the Twitter account was suspended last week.

A Reddit spokeswoman said: “The integrity of our site is of paramount
importance and we are investigating these findings.”

Twitter said it was unable to comment on individual accounts for privacy
and security reasons but that it aggressively enforces its own rules
barring “spammy content” on its service. Facebook declined comment.

Reporting by Jack Stubbs; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Timothy Heritage

-- 

--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sid-l" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected].
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sid-l/CACKppcwA0esrFJR%2B-ZosEbkOYsGu%2BwR5qUMfS%2BUMKF80P-Ltfw%40mail.gmail.com.

---
To unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
List help: <https://riseup.net/lists>