Fellow Research: Inside the Shadowy World of Disinformation-for-hire in Kenya

New research by two Mozilla Fellows reveals how malicious, coordinated, and inauthentic attacks on Twitter are undermining Kenyan civil society

Meanwhile, Twitter is doing little to curb this behavior, and good-faith activists are having a hard time on the platform

UPDATE: After an internal investigation, Twitter took action on over 100 accounts operating in the country which it found had engaged in violations of its platform manipulation and spam policy.

New research by Mozilla Fellows Odanga Madung and Brian Obilo reveals that Kenyan journalists, judges, and other members of civil society are facing coordinated disinformation campaigns on Twitter — and that Twitter is doing very little to stop it.

READ THE REPORT

Madung and Obilo conducted the research over the course of two months using tools like Sprinklr, Twint, and Trendinalia. The pair also interviewed influencers who participated in the disinformation campaigns, and collected a vast trove of screenshots, memes, and other evidence. In total, the research uncovered at least 11 different disinformation campaigns consisting of more than 23,000 tweets and 3,700 participating accounts.

Says Odanga Madung: “This research provides a window into the booming and shadowy industry of Twitter influencers for political hire in Kenya. This industry’s main goal is to sway public opinion during elections and protests, especially with regard to Kenya’s ongoing constitutional review process, the Building Bridges Initiative.”

Says Brian Obilo: “Amid this chaos, Twitter is doing very little. The platform allows malicious actors to run sock puppet accounts, create malicious content, generate fake engagement, and ultimately hijack Twitter’s very own trending algorithm. As a result, millions of Kenyans are being manipulated on Twitter.”