Digital Threat Digest - 22 September 2022
PGI’s Digital Investigations Team brings you the Digital Threat Digest, SOCMINT and OSINT insights into disinformation, influence operations, and online harms.
I Knew Q Were Trouble
Once again, I am here this morning to talk to you about Taylor Swift (and also QAnon). I can see your brows furrowing from behind your screens, but please do bear with me while I explain. Being a Twitter ‘stan’ of Swift comes with one main assumption – that everything she does is some kind of clue or hint to a future song, album or business move. This means that whenever Swift makes an announcement, the OSINT Swifties are there, ready and waiting to pore over every word, emoji and comma for hidden meaning.
Over the weekend fans immediately went into OSINT mode when Swift posted a TikTok showing behind the scenes footage of her upcoming album, Midnights. Fans noticed that the song used in the TikTok was by an artist that had no digital footprint and whose first release was the day prior. Immediately, the assumption by fans was that this was done on purpose to tell them something – about a possible future collaboration or giving us a flavour of what the new album will be like. Another lore in the fandom is that Swift loves the number 13 – it is her lucky number and she frequently chooses release dates to add up to 13 (this is important for later, I promise). To me, this type of crowdsourced online investigation and sharing of theories and ideas to suit a narrative is harmless. It is a very low risk, low stakes activity where no one is actively harmed, and people quickly move on.
But in other online spaces, this behaviour is not and should not be considered a low stakes game. An article from Vice states that QAnon supporters have used a Simpsons episode to prophecise that something ‘big’ will happen on 24 September. This began on a German Telegram channel and has now made its way into the QAnon conspiracy mainstream and supporters are using the 24th episode of the 9th season of the Simpsons (24/9 - do you see it?) to claim that ‘10 days of darkness’ will occur which will ultimately result in Donald Trump being reinstated to the Oval Office.
Now, if these were Taylor Swift fans using the number of dates to guess the next release date – I would not be as concerned. My concern comes when groups like QAnon—who have a history of being able to mobilise people into real world action—is reinvigorated with a new ‘idea’ or part of ‘the plan’ to focus on. The people that believe these ideas are actively running for political office in the 2022 midterms. Just last week, a QAnon believer in Pennsylvania walked into a Dairy Queen and threatened to ‘Kill All Democrats’.
I guess my point to this that there are inherent levels of danger to any type of conspiracy or idea that is not backed up by hard evidence. But the chances that all conspiracies will turn into real world violence is low. Some conspiracies, such as Taylor Swift rhetoric, thrive on the internet and cause minimal harm. Some enter popular culture and disappear as quickly as they came about – such as the idea that the funeral box at Queen Elizabeth’s II funeral was empty. But some have far more longevity and power—socially and politically—to change the game and affect the real world.
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PGI’s Social Media Intelligence Analysts combine modern exploitative technology with deep human analytical expertise that covers the social media platforms themselves and the behaviours and the intents of those who use them. Our experienced analyst team have a deep understanding of how various threat groups use social media and follow a three-pronged approach focused on content, behaviour and infrastructure to assess and substantiate threat landscapes.
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