From the editor: Who is the real Anonymous?
RT led the gloating recently when hacks of the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) revealed details of funding for projects to support free media covering Russia. The Kremlin outlet described these efforts as “Machiavellian machinations to ‘weaken the Russian state’ through a pan-European network of news platforms, charities, think tanks, NGOs and ‘fact checkers’” in a story titled “From Telegram to elections: Leaked documents expose sinister workings of UK government’s anti-Russian ‘troll factory’.”
The documents were “exposed by hacktivist collective Anonymous,” according to RT. However, it seems more likely that the hacks were accomplished by the Kremlin’s own operatives. Two rival Anonymous accounts on Twitter are at loggerheads over who is deserving of the group’s name and their policies towards repressive governments, but neither appear to have been involved in the FCDO hacks. The link to the hacks was published by a user called “Matthew Doer” on the Mastodon.online platform. The user has a total history of four “toots” (posts) and four followers. One toot says “Today we release the result of teamwork of the #Anonymous legion from all corners of the world. We have all got united in an effort to show that the #FCO and #HMG special services are not simply rats’ nests but truly criminal organisations while the government officials who sanction their work are accomplices.”
The latest hacks are part of a series called #OpHMGTrojanHorse published on a separate website by “Matthew Doer” that are mainly focused on Russia-related activities and include commentary in bad English that mirrors what is usually said by pro-Kremlin accounts on social media and on RT. The hackers may have been hoping to find evidence of Western funding of Alexei Navalny’s organisation, but in the absence of that they pointed the finger at the Kremlin’s enemy No.1, Bellingcat, which was listed as a partner by Zinc Network, an organisation that is funded to provide media training to Russian-language outlets in the Baltics.
The hackers call Bellingcat “Bellingcrap” – a nickname used by Dmitry Polanskiy (@Dpol_un), a Russian diplomat at the UN, on Twitter. They say of the organisation that exposed the FSB novichok poisoners: “And now many journalists around the world help those bastards promote the fake news. Those damned useful idiots of neocolonial warmongers! It’s simply because [Bellingcat founder] Eliot Higgins & Co managed to gain people's trust by creating around themselves an aura of digital Sherlocks and valiant fighters with the global evil. Although now we know that they are in fact the very Evil.”
Asked whether it had determined who was behind the hacks, the FCDO said there was an ongoing investigation and commented: “The UK is proud to support the crucial role that civil society and independent media can play in tackling disinformation through our Counter Disinformation and Media Development Programme. The UK does not seek to fight propaganda with propaganda and we believe that the best safeguard against disinformation is a robust, free and vibrant media landscape. That’s why we work with a range of partners to enhance the quality of public service and independent media across eastern Europe and the Baltics, ultimately bolstering collective resilience to Russian disinformation.”
On Twitter two Anonymous accounts both have millions of followers, but detest each other. @YourAnonNews has 6.7 million followers and says in a statement it is “a collaborative project with activists from different countries, we’re all working class people seeking a better future for humanity.” But it is primarily focused on human rights abuses and police brutality in the United States and other Western countries, and tweeted on March 6, “Hey @JoeBiden, if you pardon Snowden and Assange I will share half eaten cookie with you.” Recently it expressed support for protesters in Russia and Belarus, but in September 2014 it tweeted, “US & NATO troops going to Ukraine for training… The “leaders” starting WWIII will NEVER see the front line. #FuckNATO.” The account has not tweeted about the FCDO hacks.
Rival account @YourAnonCentral has 5.9 million Twitter followers and a YouTube channel with 6,800 subscribers. It is strongly opposed to dictatorships and says in a pinned tweet, “We support the weak against the powerful and stand for justice.” In written answers to questions sent via Twitter an administrator of the account who goes by the name SpartaZC told me, “The growth of YourAnonCentral happened under the backdrop of the Arab spring and its subsequent revolutions. Although we were affiliated with Anonymous and various activist movements for years earlier, the account didn’t fully develop until the Occupy and Take the Square movements that took hold across North America and Europe... We support human rights, autonomy, self governance, and resistance against tyranny and we work for a more humane society. We support the people who are doing the work to create the world we want.”
YourAnonCentral says it’s dedicated to fighting tyranny
Explaining the differences between the two accounts, the @YourAnonCentral administrator said: “We grew and developed independently from YourAnonNews. Despite the similar monikers, we follow two radically different philosophies and operation styles. The YourAnonNews account has always been a revolving door of feds, grifters and shitposters, closer to 4chan than activism and more of a disruption than an asset to our operations… Examples of those they promote(d) are Julian Assange, Glenn Greenwald, and a laundry list of Kremlin disinformation agents such as Latuff, Ben Norton and Max Blumenthal and Russian state media such as Russia Today, Sputnik and Redfish. YourAnonNews is used to promote the idea that ‘Anonymous is dead’ and undermine the ongoing work of international activists.”
In August last year @YourAnonCentral tweeted: “Russian intelligence services are trying to incite violence by white supremacist/right-wing groups to sow chaos in the United States, US intelligence officers said.” @YourAnonNews responded with whataboutism: “I can understand why YAC was called CIA Press Office. lol YAC should remind itself how CIA founded and funded far right groups in Venezuela and Ukraine YAC may ask itself why US backs far right groups to take over leadership in Belarus and why US have troops in far right Poland.”
“We continue to call ourselves Anonymous despite over a decade of media smear and troll campaigns against YourAnonCentral and death threats and harassment to the activists we support because we refuse to cede the movement to its enemies. Many people have died, been arrested and/or had their lives destroyed for fighting for this ideal and they deserve much better,” SpartaZC said. “Dictatorships and oligarchs aren’t nearly as powerful when they are confronted as they are when no one challenges them. We know YAC is powerful because of the amount of decoy ops and campaigns they have created to counter our messaging and reach. The money that has been spent promoting counter ops, psyops, or hiring trolls is proof that we’re taken seriously. YourAnonCentral has traditionally been one of the most disruptive anti-propaganda voices in the last decade.”
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Russia attempts to disrupt Twitter
Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor has been attempting to “slow down” Twitter over the past few days in retaliation for the platform’s refusal to delete thousands of tweets since 2017 that the agency deems potentially harmful to children. The disruption backfired at first when the websites of the Kremlin and other Russian government bodies became inaccessible. The actions came after Vladimir Putin told youth volunteers that child pornography and the promotion of drug use is rife on the internet. Twitter said in a statement: “We have a zero-tolerance policy regarding child sexual exploitation. It is against Twitter Rules to promote, glorify or encourage suicide and self harm, and we don't allow use of Twitter for buying and selling of drugs. We are deeply concerned by increased attempts to block and throttle online public conversation.”
Protester jailed for three years
A court in Vladimir has sentenced Vitaly Timofeyenko from the town of Raduzhny to three years in prison for allegedly spraying a policeman in the face with a gas canister at a protest in support of Navalny on January 23. Last year Timofeyenko was charged with disrespecting authorities for writing on VKontakte “Putin is a useless blowhard” and “United Russia is a disgraceful party of humanoids,” but was acquitted.
Alleged accomplices to ambassador’s assassin convicted
A court in Ankara has sentenced five people to life in prison and nine others to shorter terms for alleged involvement in the assassination of Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov in December 2016, calling it “a provocative action against Turkish-Russian ties.” Karlov was shot dead by off-duty police officer Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, who was killed immediately afterwards by police, having shouted “Do not forget Aleppo, do not forget Syria!” Turkey claims Altintas and his accomplices were all connected to the “FETO” group that it considers to be terrorist. Tens of thousands of people in Turkey have been arrested since the failed coup of July 2016 on suspicion of belonging to this group. The coup attempt itself could have been staged by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to consolidate his power and jail opponents. The trial of the suspects in the ambassador’s assassination looks like an effort to placate Russia. This week Putin also took part by videoconference in a ceremony to launch the third unit of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Qatar.
“It is gratifying that Turkey’s law-enforcement and judicial systems have finally made a decision regarding this tragic incident that has left a heavy mark in the history of contemporary Russian-Turkish relations,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement about the Karlov murder trial. “We pay tribute to the fact that Turkish justice has strongly condemned this terrorist act, the victim of which was a prominent Russian diplomat. We state that the development of bilateral ties in recent years gives grounds to believe that they have passed this difficult, in the full sense of the word, unprecedented test.”