Network 114 sites created in Venezuela, focused on disinformation and propaganda, published and disseminated a series of false or misleading news between 2018 and 2021 to profit or discredit political parties and their representatives.
Research published political animal D Digital Forensic Research Laboratory (DFRLab) indicates that this network was using video YouTube various channels and 4 thousand groups facebook which have amassed at least 147 million subscribers. The goal was to spread messages in favor of the leadership Andres Manuel Lopez ObradorThe president Mexicodiscrediting your opponents fake news.
In addition, this network spread propaganda and disinformation about political figures from other countries, such as Peru, El Salvador, Bolivia D Spain, according to the report. In addition, it shows that the websites were created between December 2018 and October 2021 by four people located in Venezuela: Manuel Campos, José Martinez, Edgardo Navas and Jonathan Salazar using platforms Webeyo D videmomoney Turkish companies AdReact D Advertising9.
On 114 sites involved in the case, the initials of López Obrador were found -AMLO- or party brunette in page names. These sites attempted to promote the image of the current president of Mexico through polls with headlines such as “Mexican, would you vote for López Obrador again if he was elected again?”, “Would you like a proposal to remove several members?”, “Would you donate a peso to save Pemex if AMLO asks for your help? “,” Would you like the Navy and the Minister of National Defense (Sedena) to follow the polls in the elections? and others.
Connected and organized
The report emphasizes that 114 sites were related to each other, which was determined using an open source analysis known as Open source intelligence in English. Pages share user accounts with Google Analytics and they in turn match the code used Webeyo. There is evidence that only one entity or individual has access to site metrics and that they do not operate in isolation.
Platform WHO noted that four people were in charge of registering websites and they did so from Venezuelan states Aragua, metropolitan area D Guarico. Fifth registrant known as Mark a Google service also in the records as the fifth and would have performed this action, since Turkeyusing a street, province, and zip code that are not in the same geographic area.
Various email accounts were used to register domains, such as josemtz_47@hotmail.com, cr603636@gmail.com, yosoyamlo2019k@gmail.com, 2016map70@gmail.com, mariaperez10979@gmail.com, and jhonatansalazarapk@gmail.com. Actually, political animal tried to contact the owners of these emails to arrange an interview, but only one introduced himself: the owner said he was a Peruvian writer Gregorio Martinez Navarro. Another of them also replied that her account had been hacked and that she did not belong to any news outlet.
The report found information on only one of the 114 pages, call “Viral netk” which is currently inactive. Tried to contact Edgardo Navas D Jonathan Salazar to find out their position from their broadcast on their respective websites, but they didn’t respond. Many of the 114 sites have been deactivated and as of now only 5 remain active, posting fake news and propaganda from Mexico D Spain.
The presence of fake news on Facebook
The study used the tool CrowdConfused and collected over 218,800 publications from facebookwhich included links to domains active between June 2019 and May 2022. Among the most popular sites: www.4tapeje.com; raindnoticiasmx1.com; Morenaunidmx1001.com; www.impactcdmx.com D amlonotis.comto name just a few.
Using this base, it was possible to determine that the same content could be published multiple times on different sites and that each new generated link appeared on different occasions in user groups. facebook. The most used disinformation groups on this platform during this campaign were Followers of Fernandez Noronha; AMLO Hope now as President; Followers of Alfredo Khalife; Fans of Rocio Nale and support for YouTubers, AMLO and 4Tamong others.
Peru’s presence in the case
While this has happened to a lesser extent, the misinformation and spread caused by these websites has not been limited to Mexico since some publications also mentioned the government Naib Bukele in Savior and that of Peter’s castle in Peru. In addition, fake news related to Janine Anez, interim president Boliviaand from american government.
On the Peru and president Peter’s castlehighlight the publication, which allegedly Vladimir Serron – founder and leader of a political party Free Peru- would have threatened him with death, saying: “If you try to leave us, you will pay dearly.” However, there are no more records of this article because the website it was posted on is down.
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Source: RPP
I’m Liza Grey, an experienced news writer and author at the Buna Times. I specialize in writing about economic issues, with a focus on uncovering stories that have a positive impact on society. With over seven years of experience in the news industry, I am highly knowledgeable about current events and the ways in which they affect our daily lives.