Twitter Files and Corruption
A number of new Substack posts are emerging that revisit the censorship issue. One notable post can be found here. As I sift through the FOIA’d documents, a recurring theme becomes apparent: the need to detect and counter adversary networks. They needed solutions. Some of the people involved are also quite familiar. Some of those same people knew we were making progress in the field, but they always had an excuse or brushed us off. Why ignore a group that was making progress? This led me to a conclusion: this wasn't an effort to find a solution; it was a grift. They controlled the entities, defined the solutions, and profited from their implementation—all done in private. In my opinion, this was not about controlling Americans or even solving a threat, but rather about creating a stream of government money to enrich a select few to the ultimate detriment of us all.
In August 2018, we conducted a very public test of one detection method with students at George Mason University. The Global Engagement Center (GEC) knew about it. Clint Watts knew.
That test ended when the professor had a threatening interaction with a Russian. I posted his email in a previous Substack post. Below is the George Mason University Media Advisory that resulted:
Media Advisory
Researchers Find Foreign Interference, More Than $200,000 of GoFundMe Money in Missouri Senate Race
Arlington, Va.: Researchers at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, in conjunction with SSR Industries of Cambridge, Mass.
and Washington, D.C, have discovered evidence of foreign manipulation in the 2018 Missouri Senate race.
Focusing on 27 key Twitter accounts identified by SSR Industries’ proprietary technology, the research team noticed a number of odd behaviors in the account data. This included references to issues identified as topics of interest for Russian trolling operations in the recent Department of Justice criminal complaint against Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova.
In addition, the research team discovered references from these accounts to GoFundMe accounts that were pushed through the Twitter network. The funding campaigns, which have raised anywhere from several thousand to over $200,000, are largely related to military veterans and animals. What the funds were ultimately used for is unknown.
“The activities we have been tracking strongly suggest that the Russians are not only continuing to interfere in our elections, but continue to find new ways to do so," said A. Trevor Thrall, the Schar School associate professor of international security who is helping lead the project.
“These latest findings indicate that interference is not limited to presidential elections or one candidate, but is a pervasive issue that the United States will need to come to terms with and begin addressing in a cohesive manner,” said John Fuisz of SSR Industries.
The data and a summary of the analysis to date are available at:
[Redacted for Substack]
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The Dropbox link included ALL of the files, including lists of accounts, tweets reviewed, etc. We made it ALL publicly available so the work could be checked. Nothing was hidden. We were trying to advance the state of the art and thought others were as well.
The George Mason University Media Advisory received NO media attention. The same news organizations who were pushing disinformation stories had NO interest. An Australian reporter eventually noticed the material and wrote about it here.
That story, to his surprise, also got NO attention in the U.S. We always found that odd. If people wanted to solve the problem, why ignore alternatives that appeared to be working?
During our journey, we had discussions with almost all of the key players in the Twitter Files. They all had excuses. Watts cut off communication when they launched Hamilton 68. Starbird told me she was pivoting out of the space. Linville’s group was more interested in a solution that made their Twitter Firehose valuable—something only a handful of entities had, providing access to all tweets. I can only assume they all realized their research may need to pivot as the state of the art advanced.
I am left thinking NOBODY in this echo-chamber is really focused on protecting us from adversary influence.
BUT I HAVE GOOD NEWS: Real SOLUTIONS EXIST and are IN USE (overseas to protect foreign elections) NOW. And it could be in use here in the U.S. next week, if those SAME government entities who targeted American’s for censoring, wanted.
So, my challenge to you is: Call or email your Governor, your Senator, and your Representative, and ask three simple questions:
1. Why aren’t you using the Veripihix Belief3 platform to defend U.S. elections?
2. Why can’t Americans have the same protection as foreign nations?
3. How much are you spending on research or other tools to protect U.S. elections and who is getting that money?
[NOTE: A full U.S. defense using the state-of-the-art tool would cost a fraction of what is currently being spent on research.]
-J