Political Content Attacked
Beyond the allegation that the IRA was paying for the website, Graphika, the Times (and other corporate outlets), Facebook, Twitter and the FBI focused sharply on the political angle of the website.
"The Peace Data site appeared to be a more worrying example of 'information laundering,' a more covert and potentially dangerous effort by Moscow," reported the Times, which has itself made a habit of laundering anonymous U.S. intelligence disinformation - from WMD in Iraq to Russiagate.
"Russian intelligence agencies have used allies and operatives to place articles, including disinformation, into various fringe websites," the Times said.
The Graphika report adds:
"In keeping with that identity, they [this alleged IRA "network" of Facebook pages and Twitter handles] published and shared articles about the race protests in the United States, accusations of foreign interference and war crimes committed by the U.S., corruption, and the suffering caused by capitalism. They particularly aimed their posts at progressive groups in the U.S. and UK and criticized both right-wing and center-left politicians while endorsing progressive and left-wing policies."
Graphika seemed alarmed that on PeaceData's Arabic-language site "some articles also attacked France in general and President Emmanuel Macron in particular, and accused them of an 'imperialist' approach toward Africa." This is in line with the Times quoting Ben Nimmo, director of investigations at Graphika and an Atlantic Council fellow, as saying, "In terms of posting, they were clearly significantly left of the Biden-Harris campaign," as if this were a threat to "national security" as the FBI contends.
PeaceData had a mix of original and republished articles, Graphika tells us, from publications such as The Grayzone, which Graphika smears as a "pro-Kremlin site."
Troubled by Assange Reporting
Graphika also reported in a disapproving tone that PeaceData wrote stories favorable to imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange:
"These articles systematically presented Assange and the leakers as victims of an oppressive system. Snowden, for example, was termed a 'global hero,' and Manning was labeled a 'fighter against the concealment of the truth' who was subjected to 'police state viciousness.' The court case against Assange was referred to as a 'kangaroo court,' 'political persecution,' and a 'perceived international conspiracy.' Assange himself was described as 'rotting to death' in a UK prison, the victim of 'Starmer's crusade against whistleblowing,' and a victim of 'mendacious and vindictive' treatment by the UK legal system.
The PeaceData website also referenced WikiLeaks in its coverage of another issue: the chemical attacks on civilians in Douma, Syria, in April 2018.
On five occasions between December 2019 and May 2020, peacedata[.]net reproduced articles that alleged, based on Wikileaks leaks, that the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had doctored its report on the Douma attack. PeaceData's decision to reproduce these reports is consistent with earlier Russian operations against the OPCW, notably the attempt by agents from Russian military intelligence to hack the OPCW in April 2018."
Graphika generally runs down the progressive line of the site, pointing out that it was hostile to both Trump and Biden, which of course is a perfectly legitimate position to take. But there is apparently something nefarious about this, according to the Graphika report:
"There is no indication that the freelancers who wrote the articles were anything but sincere in their writing. However, in the context of an operation run by fake personas from Russia, the decision to espouse progressive positions and attack both center-left and right-wing politicians indicates an attempt to woo more left-wing audiences for future influence operations. This is consistent with the operation's targeting of progressive Facebook groups, discussed below; it is also consistent with the original IRA's attempt to depress support for then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton by infiltrating and influencing progressive audiences."
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
