Mike Hind & conspiracy theory chronicler Mike Rothschild discuss the many facets of a Trump-era classic - the 'grand unifying' theory of QAnon

Something about the structures of online social discourse is changing us. Thi Nguyen sees similarities with the gaming world. Plus the 'expert finding' problem and more.

In this episode Erin Gallagher offers a view of digital information pollution around Latin America. Fake Twitter - Honduran style (Pic credit: Erin Gallagher) Find Erin Gallagher on Medium here. Follow 3r1nG on Twitter. My argument that disinformation is a demand-side problem can be found here. Links...

#Moggmentum & #FreeTommy are two hash tags designed to promote and gain support for right wing talking points. But they are anything but organic in their spread.

Mike and John discuss the similarities in the tenor, tone and approaches of the pro-European #FBPE Twitter community with those of the earlier pro-Brexit campaign.

Mike and John discuss the use of fake social profiles by non-political influencers - and the wider risks that come with this kind of gaming of social platforms. The reputational damage to real people caused by account hijacking, the increased risk of sharing malware infections, when links are shared by people apparently connected with the supposed great and the good and the risks to your own online reputation posed by automating your own follow back policies.

Mike and John discuss the 'rootless' nature of the internet and the difficulties that poses to reaching the sources of information pollution. The explosion of pro-'Remain' accounts on Twitter and the problem of low quality news aggregation sites is also covered.

In this episode Mike and John discuss how the conversation on Twitter unfolded around the appearances of Google, Facebook and Twitter at the so-called 'tech hearings' before representatives of Congress and the Senate in the United States. They conclude that because so much focus was on 'Trump-Russia' rather than the role of the platforms themselves, the social media giants are getting a free pass on their position as aids to weaponised disinformation.

Fake news may have reached the mainstream, as a story, but experts in the field of combating disinformation are now thinking far beyond that. In this episode we catch up with delegates and presenters at the Misinfocon event, held in London in October, to hear about some of the latest developments aimed at fixing a 'post-truth' information environment. 

Mike Hind and John Gray discuss the apparent astroturfing of anti-Uber sentiment by the London taxi industry and reveal a 'pornopolitical' Bot of the Week.

An update on the story of Logical Campaign, a political troll account backed up with an array of fake business entities. And Mike Hind discusses with John Gray, of Mentionmapp Analytics, more evidence of social media gamed for propaganda purposes. Plus 'bot of the week'.

In this episode of The Disinformation Age we look at the story of Logical Campaign and its apparent connection with the trolling of influential journalists. 

Setting the scene for our future work and a heads up on a story that will unfold over time. It's about an apparent multi-platform network of social media accounts that connect across Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. A fake information network that appears to be run by two real people.