Ben Nimmo
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Articles by Ben Nimmo
How deceptive online networks reached millions in the US 2020 elections
Abstract Deceptive online networks are coordinated efforts that use identity deception to pursue strategic political or financial goals. During the US 2020 elections, these networks reached at least 37 million Facebook and 3 million Instagram users, representing 15% and 2% of the platforms’ active US adult users, respectively. Only 3 networks out of 49—1 network with explicitly political aims and 2 that appeared to use politics as a lure for profit—were responsible for over 70% of users reached.
Measuring Changes Caused by Generative Artificial Intelligence: Setting the Foundations
Informed policy that leads to beneficial change is extremely challenging to develop without being able to measure the material impacts of GenAI. program The Technology and International Affairs Program develops insights to address the governance challenges and large-scale risks of new technologies.
A New Kill Chain Approach to Disrupting Online Threats
If the internet is a battlefield between threat actors and the investigators who defend against them, that field has never been so crowded. The threats range from hacking to scams, election interference to harassment. The people behind them include intelligence services, troll farms, hate groups, and commercial companies of cyber mercenaries. The defenders include investigators at tech companies, universities, think tanks, government agencies, and media outlets.
A New Kill Chain Approach to Disrupting Online Threats
If the internet is a battlefield between threat actors and the investigators who defend against them, that field has never been so crowded. The threats range from hacking to scams, election interference to harassment. The people behind them include intelligence services, troll farms, hate groups, and commercial companies of cyber mercenaries. The defenders include investigators at tech companies, universities, think tanks, government agencies, and media outlets.
Meta's Adversarial Threat Report, First Quarter 2023
Meta Today, as part of our quarterly threat reporting, we’re sharing a number of security updates, including our Q1 Adversarial Threat Report and insights into our work against malware campaigns. Over the past five years, we’ve shared our findings about threats we detect and remove across our technologies.
Phase-based Tactical Analysis of Online Operations
The Online Operations Kill Chain: A model to analyze, describe, compare, and disrupt threat activity from influence operations to cybercrime. Summary The online threatscape in 2023 is characterized by an unprecedented variety of actors, types of operation, and threat response teams. Threat actors range from intelligence agencies and troll farms to child-abuse networks. Abuses range from hacking to scams, election interference to harassment.
Meta’s Adversarial Threat Report, Fourth Quarter 2022
Meta As part of our quarterly integrity reporting, we’re sharing a number of updates on our work to protect public debate and people’s ability to connect around the world. Over the past five years, we’ve shared our findings about threats we detect and remove from our platforms.
Recapping Our 2022 Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Enforcements
As we close out this year, we’re sharing a number of updates on our work to protect people around the world against various threats. Since 2017, we’ve taken down and reported on more than 200 covert influence operations, providing details on each network’s behavior so that people know about the threats we see — whether they come from nation states, commercial firms or unattributed groups.
Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior From China and Russia
Today, we’re sharing our findings into two covert influence operations — from China and Russia — that we took down for violating our policy against Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior (CIB). We shared information with our peers at tech companies, security researchers, governments and law enforcement so they too can take appropriate action.
Meta’s Adversarial Threat Report, Second Quarter 2022
Meta Today, we’re sharing our second quarterly adversarial threat report that provides insight into the risks we see worldwide and across multiple policy violations. The report marks nearly five years since we began publicly sharing our threat research and analysis into covert influence operations that we tackle under the Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior (CIB) policy.
Informe de Amenazas Adversarias de Meta, Primer trimestre de 2022
Meta abril 7, 2022abril 7, 2022 Por Ben Nimmo, líder de Inteligencia de Amenazas Global para Operaciones de Influencia y David Agranovich, director de Desarticulación de Amenazas Nuestro primer informe trimestral de amenazas da una perspectiva general de las amenazas que vemos a lo largo de diversas infracciones de políticas en Irán Azerbaiyán, Ucrania, Rusia, Sudamérica y Filipinas.
Meta’s Adversarial Threat Report, First Quarter 2022 Original
Meta April 7, 2022April 6, 2022 By Ben Nimmo, Global Threat Intelligence Lead for Influence Operations and David Agranovich, Director, Threat Disruption We’re sharing our pilot quarterly adversarial threat report that provides a broad view into the risks we see worldwide and across multiple policy violations.
Unseasonably definition and meaning
unseasonably (ʌnsiːzənəbli ) adverb [ADVERB adjective] Unseasonably warm, cold, or mild weather is warmer, colder, or milder than it usually is at the time of year. ...a spell of unseasonably warm weather. It was unseasonably mild for late January. COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers You may also like Examples of 'unseasonably' in a sentence unseasonably These examples have been automatically selected and may contain sensitive content.
The Breakout Scale: Measuring the impact of influence operations
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY One of the greatest challenges in the study of disinformation and influence operations (IOs) is measuring their impact. IO practitioners acknowledge that measuring the impact of their own operations is a complex process that requires careful study and calibration; it is much harder for operational researchers, whose job it is to identify and expose IO, without reliable information on what the operation is trying to achieve.
The Lawfare Podcast: Ben Nimmo on the Return of the Internet Research Agency
Published by The Lawfare Institute in Cooperation With This week on Lawfare's Arbiters of Truth series on disinformation, Alina Polyakova and Quinta Jurecic spoke with Ben Nimmo, the director of investigations at Graphika.
Novichok, Navalny, Nordstream, Nonsense
Authored by Craig Murray, Once Navalny was in Berlin it was only a matter of time before it was declared that he was poisoned with Novichok. The Russophobes are delighted... This of course eliminates all vestiges of doubt about what happened to the Skripals, and proves that Russia must be isolated and sanctioned to death and we must spend untold billions on weapons and security services. We must also increase domestic surveillance, crack down on dissenting online opinion.
Novichok, Navalny, Nordstream, Nonsense
Once Alexei Navalny was in Berlin it was only a matter of time before it was declared that he was poisoned with Novichok. The Russophobes are delighted. This of course eliminates all vestiges of doubt about what happened to the Skripals, and proves that Russia must be isolated and sanctioned to death and we must spend untold billions on weapons and security services. We must also increase domestic surveillance, crack down on dissenting online opinion.
Ben Nimmo - Wikispooks
Ben Nimmo (propagandist, deep state functionary) Nationality UK Member of DFR Lab, DisinfoPortal, EXPOSE Network, Institute for Statecraft, Integrity Initiative/Cluster/UK/Inner Core Victim of permanent war mentality?
Understanding Information Operations with Twitter Data Launch Event
As the first event in a series of workshops on research exploring information operations, the Partnership for Countering Influence Operations and Twitter invite you to back-to-back panels featuring expert speakers. This session will feature two keynote panels outlining the central problems and issues with information operations. In 2018, Twitter first released a large archive of tweets and media from Russian and Iranian troll farms.
Trends in online disinformation campaigns
Ben Nimmo, director of investigations at Graphika, discusses two main trends in online disinformation campaigns: the decline of large scale, state-sponsored operations and the rise of small scale, homegrown copycats.
Putin Sends His Dirty War Forces to Syria
Reuters confirmed Wednesday what The Daily Beast first reported last week—not only have Russian troops been deployed to Syria but they are indeed taking part in active combat operations, although against which of the manifold enemies of the Assad regime remains unclear.
Graphika Labs
Through our focus on technology R&D, Graphika is committed to advancing our social network analysis, machine learning and AI capabilities to better service clients and research partners. Tools and Unique Features The Graphika Labs also produced two tools deployable at scale and focused on detecting disinformation campaigns.
BJP and Congress resorting to running deceptive social-media accounts and disinformation campaigns
Kanishk Karan and Ben NimmoApr 02, 2019 14:11:04 IST On 1 April, Facebook took down over 700 assets that were posting partisan content on Indian politics ahead of the country’s national elections, ruling that they had engaged in “coordinated inauthentic behaviour”. A number of large pages on Facebook and Instagram supported the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP); several dozen smaller Facebook pages were linked to the main opposition party, the Indian National Congress (INC).
#TrollTracker: Facebook Takes Down Fake Network in the United Kingdom
On March 7, Facebook removed 23 pages, 74 Facebook accounts, five groups, and 35 Instagram accounts that the company assessed to be “engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior as part of a domestic-focused network in the UK.” These pages had approximately 175,000 followers, and approximately 4,500 accounts followed at least one of the removed Instagram accounts.
10 tips for creating amazing online retail customer experiences
Commentary March 5, 2019 By Ben Nimmo, co-founder and CTO, Orlo If the Information Age is over, we're now living in an Experience Age where emotion drives behavior. If retail brands can be there instantly, effectively and meaningfully when customers need them most, those same brands can create amazing online experiences for customers and inspire positive emotions, influencing behavior at scale.
Putin Loves Labour’s Leader-in-Waiting
Britain’s standard-bearer liberal newspaper The Guardian may have rejected Jeremy Corbyn for Labour Party leader, but he has one media outlet solidly in his corner: RT. The Kremlin-funded propaganda channel is actively pushing the far-left parliamentarian’s candidacy—and in a British media market in which RT claims some 2.5 million viewers a quarter.
Psy-Ops, Meet Cyber-Ops: U.S. Takes on Russian Trolls
A Russian troll sits down at his desktop and logs into one of the social media accounts he uses to impersonate and radicalize Americans. Suddenly, a direct message appears: “Hello, Ivan. This is U.S. Cyber Command. We can see your mouse from here.” The threat is implicit, not explicit, but it might be enough for Ivan to start searching for job opportunities that do not come with the peril of U.S. indictments or criminal complaints. It reads like a scene from the Wachowski brothers’ Matrix series.
Robot Wars: How Bots Joined Battle in the Gulf
In the summer of 2017, Twitter bots—automated accounts—were deployed to boost messaging on both sides of the diplomatic dispute between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Some appeared commercial, made available by users outside the Gulf region to anyone willing to pay for them. Others appeared locally focused. Together, such bot deployments significantly distorted Twitter traffic. The Gulf dispute showcases the range of different bots and their impact.
#TrollTracker: Russian Traces in Facebook Takedown-Part One: Assessing the origins of the “inauthentic” accounts
The pattern of behavior by the accounts and on the pages in question make one thing abundantly clear: they sought to promote divisions and set Americans against one another. Their approach, tactics, language, and content were, in some instances, very similar to accounts run by the Russian “troll farm” or Internet Research Agency between 2014 and 2017. The malign influence operation showed increasing sophistication.
#TrollTracker: Russia’s Other Troll Team
Mueller points to existence of second Russian troll operation focused on activist groups and foreign policy Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s indictment of 11 Russian military intelligence operators intensified the debate over Russian interference in the United States, but it also pointed to the existence of a separate Russian troll operation, outside the infamous Internet Research Agency troll farm.
#TrollTracker: From Tags To Trolling
How tweets to a small group precede attacks on critics of the Syrian and Russian regimes Tweets by @RenieriArts posted between 10:25 and 10:32 am, UK time, on April 20, 2018, apparently calling attention to a tweet by Guardian journalist Heather Stewart. All archived on May 18, 2018. (Source: Twitter / RenieriArts) A small group of Twitter users appears to have been conducting a campaign of targeted harassment against critics of the Syrian and Russian regimes for at least eighteen months.
#PutinAtWar: How Sputnik Secures Russia’s Interests
An interactive online guide to learn about the Kremlin’s disinformation campaigns Find and connect with experts by country, language, and expertise View stories, reports, and videos from our partners Explore in-depth country profiles Continue Victim mentality: Sputnik tags on (left to right) “anti-Russian bias,” “anti-Russian sentiment” and “Russophobia.” All archived on May 10, 2018.
#TrollTracker: Russian Trolls on Reddit
On April 10, Reddit announced that it had found and suspended 944 accounts suspected of being run by the Internet Research Agency, otherwise known as the infamous St. Petersburg “troll farm”. With welcome transparency, the curating platform left the accounts visible, “to allow moderators, investigators, and all of you to see their account histories for yourselves.” The behavior of these accounts closely mirrored the troll farm’s operations on Twitter and Facebook.
How They Did It: The Real Russian Journalists Who Exposed the Troll Factory in St. Petersburg
Headlines from Novaya Gazeta (main picture) and RBC (РБК, inset) exposing the “troll farm” in St. Petersburg. The reason we know so much about the Russian information operations that targeted the United States from 2014 to 2017 is that some Russian journalists are very good at their jobs.
Managing A Crisis: A 10 Point Social Media Plan For Crisis Communications
Organisations have come to rely on social media as a key part of their communications strategy. Ben Nimmo, Founder and CTO of SocialSignIn, offers advice on how effective social media management can make all the difference during times of crisis. A crisis can happen at any time, anywhere, and affect any organisation. In the UK last year there were several tragic terror attacks, severe weather systems, and incidents of ‘fake news’ that resulted in widespread panic and casualties.
Fake News: Defining and Defeating
Real techniques for identifying fake news and disinformation Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to present his media critics with so-called “fake news awards,” it is more important than ever to define what “fake news” actually is, and what it is not. President Trump’s repeated accusations of fake news are dangerous both for journalists around the world, and for the integrity of free and fair democratic discourse in America.
History Revisited: The Forest Brothers | RealClearDefense
On July 11, NATO's in-house broadcaster, NATO TV, released a video titled “Forest Brothers — Fight for the Baltics,” triggering a social media row between the Baltic states and Russia. The Forest Brothers were irregular armed units in the Baltic states who fought against Soviet forces after the end of World War II, from 1945 to 1953.
Why Bot Makers Dream of Electric Sheep
Social media “bots” have repeatedly made headlines over the past year, accused of driving traffic and distorting debate on social media platforms, especially Twitter, in the US French , and UK elections . But what are bots, and how do they work?In social media terms, a bot is an automated account set up to make posts without human intervention.
Le Pen’s (Small) Online Army
France holds presidential elections on April 23. Ahead of the polls, reports are emerging of sophisticated online groups supporting some of the candidates, especially far-right leader Marine Le Pen. According to the Financial Times, Le Pen is supported by “an aggressive social media operation that is the most powerful in French politics”, putting her at the forefront of social media campaigning. The operation is certainly aggressive, slick, and well coordinated.
Will 2017 be lucky for Vladimir Putin?
Ben Nimmo is a senior fellow, information defense, at the Atlantic Council 's Digital Forensic Research Lab. He was a NATO press officer from 2011 to 2014. He is on Twitter @benimmo . The opinions in this article belong to the author. (CNN) The world seemed to tilt toward Russia in 2016 . Donald Trump was voted in; Britain voted out.
OPINIÓN: Cómo Rusia está tratando de manipular las elecciones de EU
Nota del editor: Ben Nimmo es un analista de la desinformación y la guerra de información que reside en Reino Unido. Es experiodista de la Deutsche Presse-Agentur y trabajó de 2011 a 2014 como funcionario de prensa en la OTAN, especializado en relaciones con Rusia y Ucrania. Es investigador principal del Institute for Statecraft en Londres y del Atlantic Council en Washington. Las opiniones expresadas en esta columna son exclusivas del autor.
How the Kremlin is trying to rig the US election
Ben Nimmo is a UK-based analyst of disinformation and information warfare. He is a former journalist for Deutsche Presse-Agentur, and worked from 2011 to 2014 as a press officer at NATO, specializing in relations with Russia and Ukraine. He is a senior fellow of the Institute for Statecraft in London and the Atlantic Council in Washington. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
How MH17 Gave Birth to the Modern Russian Spin Machine
How MH17 Gave Birth to the Modern Russian Spin Machine It seems odd to look back to just over two years ago — a time when Russia had already effectively annexed Crimea and quietly fomented civil war in Ukraine — and to think of those days as simpler times. To be sure, they weren’t that simple, even then: Before Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, Russian officials had already lied publicly about their special forces’ role in the seizure of Crimea.
Vilify and Amplify: How the Kremlin’s Disinformation Machine is Attacking the MH17 Probe
The Kremlin has turned its disinformation machine on those who are investigating the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in July of 2014, using state employees, state-run media, and the state-run, though unacknowledged, “ troll factory ” of fake Internet accounts.The primary goal of the media attacks has been to undermine the credibility of citizen journalist group Bellingcat , an independent researcher into the crash.
With Russian Network’s Interview, Is the Kremlin Warming to Donald Trump?
Ben Nimmo is a fellow in information defense at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. He is on Twitter: @Benimmo. The Donald Trump interview broadcast Thursday by RT America immediately sparked questions. There was the issue of Mr. Trump’s content: the Republican presidential nominee criticizing U.S. foreign policy on a foreign-owned network just a day after praising Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian Propaganda Isn’t Pro-Donald Trump: It’s Anti-U.S. Establishment
Ben Nimmo is a fellow in information defense at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. He has written a longer article on this issue here. He is on Twitter: @Benimmo. Amid all the debate over Donald Trump’s rhetoric about Russia, his relationship with Vladimir Putin, and his campaign chairman’s ties to Ukraine, it should be noted: Russia’s propaganda machine isn’t supporting Mr. Trump. It is busy attacking the United States’ democratic credentials.
Understanding the Role of Russian Propaganda in the US Election
It may seem strange, but the Kremlin's propaganda machine is not backing US Presidential Republican Candidate Donald Trump. It has a bigger goal: Discrediting democracy in the United States.The Kremlin's main propaganda outlets in the US are the television station RT—formerly Russia Today—and the radio and online outlet Sputnik. Both are headed by Kremlin loyalists and closely mirror Russia's foreign policy.
Brexit: Losers and Winners
The United Kingdom will emerge as the biggest loser from its voters’ decision to exit the European Union.The United States loses a useful ally in its dealings with the European bloc, but it has others. France and Russia benefit, while Germany under Chancellor Angela Merkel will look increasingly vulnerable.
Lessons from the Air Campaigns over Libya, Syria, and Yemen
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) 10.55540/0031-1723.2826 Recommended Citation Ben Nimmo, "Lessons from the Air Campaigns over Libya, Syria, and Yemen," Parameters 46, no. 1 (2016), doi:10.55540/0031-1723.2826. DOWNLOADS Since January 11, 2021 COinS To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately, you may Download the file to your hard drive.
Putin’s Media Are Pushing Britain For The Brexit
A graphic used by the Russian state-run news agency Sputnik, taken from a Flickr account called "EU Exposed" The Kremlin’s English-language outlets are at it again: Just months after lobbying for Jeremy Corbyn’s election as leader of the UK opposition, they are now backing the campaign to take the UK out of the European Union.
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