US-based Twitter's one-sided censorship of pro-Thai government accounts further illustrates foreign-backing for Thailand's billionaire-led opposition.
October 10, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - ATN) - In another move proving US-based tech giants Facebook and Twitter operate as US state propaganda tools rather than neutral social media platforms - they announced the removal of accounts across their networks posting pro-Royal Thai Army content.
Twitter alone claims it removed nearly 1,000 accounts claiming:
Our investigation uncovered a network of accounts partaking in information operations that we can reliably link to the Royal Thai Army (RTA). These accounts were engaging in amplifying pro-RTA and pro-government content, as well as engaging in behaviour targeting prominent political opposition figures.
We are disclosing 926 accounts today and continue to enforce against small-scale activity associated with this network, as we identify it.
This move also helps further illustrate how foreign governments and corporations are directly involved in propping up the Thai opposition.
Twitter Provides No Evidence to Back its Politically-Motivated Censorship
Accompanying Twitter's claims is a report published by the "Stanford Internet Observatory" which begins with a politically-biased introduction portraying Thailand's corrupt, billionaire-led opposition as being "pro-democracy" and omitting any mention of either their corruption and human rights abuses including deadly street violence - or their own use of an expansive online propaganda network including fake accounts on Twitter allowed to operate with impunity.
Neither Twitter nor Stanford actually produce evidence of their claims. Twitter even uses the wording, "we can reliably link" - weasel words often used by the Western media and Western intelligence agencies in the place where documented evidence would normally be presented.
The "Stanford Internet Observatory's" bias is easily explained by simply looking at who runs it - executives and academics with direct ties to Facebook, Twitter, and the US government itself.
The US government has a direct interest in eliminating critics of Thailand's opposition since virtually every aspect of the opposition itself is funded by the US government through its notorious regime change arm, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). US support for the Thai opposition stems from its desire to roll back the current Thai government's growing relationship with China.
READ MORE: The Complete Guide: US Government Role in Thailand's "Student Protests"
Instead of presenting actual evidence that the deleted accounts were "fake," Stanford cites behavior that would occur especially if the accounts were genuine - such as tweeting more during peak points in Thailand's crisis - something that anyone who writes about or follows news would normally do.
They also cite "tactics" such as "dogpiling onto tweets from opposition-aligned accounts" - a tactic the opposition itself regularly uses. The very nature of social media is that groups of like-minded individuals can easily see the activity of one another and have ample motivation and opportunity to support comments and criticism aimed at those with opposing views especially in response to particularly provocative statements or claims.
The final piece of "evidence" Stanford presents is that the deleted accounts regularly posted comments favorable to the Thai military as replies to official Thai military accounts. But wouldn't someone who supported and followed the Thai military's accounts on Twitter do just that?
Despite what Twitter and Stanford claim was an "information operation" aimed at the Thai opposition, they themselves admit it had a low impact and failed in even "inauthentically boosting hashtags to the point where they trend" - something the opposition itself does on an almost daily basis.
In fact, the same media organizations attempting to cover up what was essentially Twitter censoring critics of the US-backed opposition in Thailand on a US-based social media network - often write entire articles about "trending hashtags" on Twitter promoted by the opposition in an attempt to cite it as evidence opposition talking points are just as popular in the real world.
Hashtags involving various boycotts or rally dates opposing the Thai government announced by the opposition have "trended" in cyberspace but were clearly and completely ignored by the vast majority of the actual public - very convincing evidence that not only is the opposition running an "information operation" on US-based Twitter - but that Twitter and fake academic fronts like the Stanford Internet Observatory are deliberately ignoring them while focusing instead on the opposition's opponents.
Further Exposes Foreign-Backing for Thailand's Opposition
While Twitter and Stanford's latest game is probably meant to boost the image of the opposition - all it has done in reality is further illustrate just how deeply foreign interference plays in sustaining Thailand's opposition and their disruptive and dishonest tactics aimed at Thailand's internal political affairs.
Missing from this most recent discussion on "information operations" is the fact that the opposition's "bot army" was uncovered years ago and continues operating today with complete impunity on Twitter's platform and without "notice" from supposed academic organizations such as the Stanford Internet Observatory.
READ MORE: Twitter Bot Armies Target Thai Politics
Unlike the pro-Thai army accounts censored by Twitter recently, these opposition accounts were created with the same name, logo, retweeted the exact same content, followed the exact same official opposition accounts, were devoid of any actual posts made by the accounts themselves, and were and still are specifically used to create "trending hashtags" then used by a dishonest Western media and their Thai partners to create the illusion of popularity for the Thai opposition and their agenda.
Stanford's omitting any mention of these accounts despite having been operational for years - in their latest report - or noting Twitter's inaction regarding them - reveals Stanford itself as compromised and engaged in political interference and propaganda poorly dressed as objective academic analysis.
Expecting Facebook and Twitter - two US-based corporations admittedly involved in advancing US foreign policy abroad through the use and abuse of their social media platforms - to act fairly in regards to a Thai opposition openly funded and backed by the US government is unreasonable.
Instead, Thailand should follow the lead of other nations by creating its own domestic versions of Facebook and Twitter and incrementally push both foreign platforms out of the nation's information space.
This is not only a matter of national security - but also an economic opportunity - taking all the money and talent both foreign social media giants are siphoning off the Thai population to Silicon Valley and keeping it within Thailand's borders instead.