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Exposing Twitter Accounts Serving Russian and Iranian Interests

Before X, (formerly Twitter), discontinued Twitter’s policy of publicly identifying foreign/hostile “state-affiliated media,” individuals running accounts that served Russian and Iranian interests couldn’t hide their affiliation. Now they can and do.  

Twitter defined state-affiliated media as “outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.” Twitter went on to say that accounts being labeled as such could belong to “state-affiliated media entities, their editors-in-chief, and/or their senior staff.”  

Because no one wants to destroy Israel and “free Palestine” more than Khamenei, the horrifically abusive dictator of the Iranian people and funder of several Islamic terror groups (Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis), it is no wonder that many of the accounts that are the most misleading and hateful against Israel, in actuality, serve Khamenei, the mullah who imprisons, tortures and murders innocent people regularly. That Khamenei rallies his people to chant “death to America,” “death to England” and “death to Israel,” has not stopped British citizens from spewing his propaganda. 

And then there is Russia. The former Soviet Union took the lead in creating Palestinian nationhood, and the blueprint for how this new nation of people would be used to destroy Israel, the United States’ most reliable ally in the Middle East. Many of the lies against Israel channel Nazi and Soviet propaganda. And the current Russian government has inflicted war on Ukraine, another non-NATO ally.  

Focusing on the aforementioned countries, Twitter’s labeling clearly illustrated that those with the most dishonest and harshest messages against Israel, also have an agenda aligned with enemies of the West, enemies of freedom and liberty.  

For example, two former British Members of Parliament, (that is worth repeating, two former British MPs) Chris Williamson and George Galloway were flagged by Twitter as having accounts affiliated with the Iranian and Russian governments respectively.  

Twitter-Chris-Williamson-5-copy
Twitter-George-Galloway-copy

Galloway was recently interviewed by Rachel Blevins, whose bio states that she is a journalist in Texas, “passionate about pursuing truth and questioning establishment narratives.” What her bio no longer says is that she, too, was labeled by Twitter as having a Russian-affiliated media account. 

Redfish seems to have closed its account to start afresh as Red., an Israel and India-bashing self-described “revolutionary, educational, documentaries” site. It’s worth noting that much of the overall campaign against Jews and Israel is fueled by those campaigning against Hindus and India. Both are countries with sizeable Muslim minorities that border countries with Muslim majorities that have inflicted much terror against people of the two democracies. Red., along with countless media sites, have been deceptively reporting on India’s recent inauguration of a Hindu temple. Indeed, it was built on the ruins of a mosque—a mosque that was built by invading Muslims, who built it over an original Hindu temple in that spot and subjected the Hindu population to incessant abuses. Redfish was labeled as Russian-state affiliated media. 

While Galloway was identified as having a Russian-state affiliated media account, MP Chris Williamson’s twitter account was labeled Iran state-affiliated media. While Israelis are fighting to rescue hostages and secure their borders from the Islamic terror group, Hamas, funded by Iran, Williamson calls Zionism, which is actually a peaceful movement that Iran and other Islamists have been trying to destroy, a “lying, thieving and murdering ideology.” He expressed this months after thousands of Islamic terrorists, funded by Iran, invaded Israel and massacred Israelis and people from other countries. They dragged Israel into an unwanted war. There is often much projection in accusations against Israel by those who say them, and that was just one example.  

Williamson has promoted Going Underground by host Afshin Rattansi, who also incessantly smears Israel, and was labeled, by Twitter, as having a Russian-affiliated media account. 

The Grayzone, with more than 300 thousand followers, outdoes Going Underground, with more than 100,000 followers, is also an anti-Israel propaganda site. It has gone as far as to say that the unimaginably brutal Hamas rapes against Israeli women were a hoax. The Twitter account of Grayzone’s managing editor, Wyatt Reed, was also identified as Russian state-affiliated media.  

Twitter labeled anti-Israel propaganda outlets, Africa Today and Palestine Declassified, as Iran state-affiliated media accounts. While Williamson hosts Palestine Declassified, disgraced former University of Bristol professor, David Miller, whose account was labeled as Iran-state affiliated, produces it and directs Spinwatch. Their anti-Jewish rhetoric has threatened the security of British Jews. 

 

This is just a small sampling of outlets that appear to be run by Western affiliated people, but serve the ideological and even military enemies of the West. A 2018 official Twitter blog post, before the actual public identification process, said they had identified datasets of, “. . . 3,841* accounts affiliated with the [Internet Research Agency] IRA, originating in Russia, and 770 other accounts, potentially originating in Iran. They include more than 10 million Tweets . . .”  

College campuses and streets in the West are being filled regularly by people who seem to be accepting as truth, lies and propaganda from hostile countries, that would do them harm. In an era in which nefarious actors are more effectively deceiving more of the public, awareness as to the allegiance of the propagandists is a step toward vigilance. 

X would do a service for the good people of the world by reestablishing the Twitter policy of identifying the bad actors. 

About the author

Picture of Faith Quintero

Faith Quintero

Faith Quintero is the author of Loaded Blessings, a family saga that alternates between Inquisition era Spain and modern-day Israel. It’s among the Federalist’s top books of 2019 list and a Montaigne Medal finalist for the Eric Hoffer awards.
Picture of Faith Quintero

Faith Quintero

Faith Quintero is the author of Loaded Blessings, a family saga that alternates between Inquisition era Spain and modern-day Israel. It’s among the Federalist’s top books of 2019 list and a Montaigne Medal finalist for the Eric Hoffer awards.
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