52 votes

Redditors tracked down who's behind the American protests to release lockdown. It's a couple of professional astroturfing companies

/u/derilect, working from information provided by /u/icesir, tracks down the organisers of the American protests against lockdown. It's two professional astroturfing companies:

  • One Click Politics

  • UJOIN

https://www.reddit.com/r/MassMove/comments/g3toiz/a_post_by_udr_midnight_collating_information_on/fnv8j69/?context=1

5 comments

  1. [2]
    Deimos
    (edited )
    Link
    Brian Krebs published an article about this today with further research: Who’s Behind the “Reopen” Domain Surge?

    Brian Krebs published an article about this today with further research: Who’s Behind the “Reopen” Domain Surge?

    18 votes
    1. Surira
      Link Parent
      All roads lead to violent right wing extremists, the Koch brother(s), right wing think tanks, and the Russians, as per usual

      All roads lead to violent right wing extremists, the Koch brother(s), right wing think tanks, and the Russians, as per usual

      6 votes
  2. SheepWolf
    Link
    If I'm not mistaken, MassMove was also keeping track of hundreds (thousands?) of fake local news websites spreading disinformation regarding upcoming US elections...

    If I'm not mistaken, MassMove was also keeping track of hundreds (thousands?) of fake local news websites spreading disinformation regarding upcoming US elections (https://github.com/MassMove/AttackVectors#local-journalism).

    Not sure but it seems though they (the fake news people and the astroturfing companies) are acting similarly to basically trick the American public, they might not be directly related unless I am missing something obvious besides the economic/political motivation.

    10 votes
  3. [3]
    Comment removed by site admin
    Link
    1. [2]
      Comment deleted by author
      Link Parent
      1. KapteinB
        Link Parent
        Notice that all of these are dead links, supporting his claim. Has any of the malicious URLs been linked to Murphy? That's not all that uncommon I think. Create a Twitter or Skype account, use it...

        Murphy snapped up domains for every still available iteration of reopenAL.com, reopenAK.com, reopenAR.com, and so forth, that hadn’t already been purchased, along with every domain he could for variations like liberateWV.com, liberateWY.com, and liberateWI.com. The idea was to preempt any further such purchases by people genuinely seeking to organize protests.

        Notice that all of these are dead links, supporting his claim.

        Has any of the malicious URLs been linked to Murphy?

        However, various social media profiles tied to Mr. Murphy’s contact details suggest this persona may not present a complete picture. A Twitter account tied to Murphy’s email address promoted nothing but spammy paid surveys for years. And a Skype lookup on his phone number curiously returns a Russian profile under the name валентина сынах (translated as “Valentine Sons”).

        That's not all that uncommon I think. Create a Twitter or Skype account, use it for a few years, then forget you have it for more years, and eventually it will be hacked and used for spam.

        6 votes
    2. mrbig
      Link Parent
      I believe they should not be considered by the public at all. Professional investigators (including reputable members of the press) might use them as a starting point for further investigation....

      Reddit witch hunts are rarely accurate and should be taken with a mountain of salt.

      I believe they should not be considered by the public at all. Professional investigators (including reputable members of the press) might use them as a starting point for further investigation. That’s about it IMHO.

      5 votes