First Cazadores de Fake News report summarizes how and by whom coordinated online attacks against journalists, media and researchers in Venezuela were carried out
Informe completo: #PeriodistasDifamados, en español: DESCARGAR
Full report: #DefamedJournalists, in english: DOWNLOAD
A total of nine different coordinated attacks, driven from social networks and websites, are summarized in the first report published by the Venezuelan anti-disinformation organization Cazadores de Fake News: DefamedJournalists: Coordinated online disinformation, defamation, and harassment campaigns against Venezuelan communicators, 2020-2021.
The report is a compilation of threads published during the years 2020 and 2021 on the social network Twitter, which are shown in the document, in expanded form, for the first time. In the final chapter of the document, other campaigns of disinformation, defamation and harassment, previously available in several articles published on the cazadoresdefakenews.info webpage, are summarized.
The campaigns were promoted by networks of accounts that boost coordinated trends and narratives, mainly on Twitter. In other cases, the use of networks of “fake news” websites and “fake news” accounts on Instagram to drive disinformation, defamation and harassment campaigns in Venezuela is described.
The coordinated digital campaigns summarized in the report are:
- Promotion of the hashtag #DenizVendePatria against Roberto Deniz. Twitter, March 27, 2021
- Network of 21 “fake news” websites that published defamatory articles against Roberto Deniz and Alek Boyd, between April and June 2021. Special article published on October 17, 2021: In spanish.
- Promotion the hashtag #DenizExtorsionador against Roberto Deniz. Twitter, November 10, 2021.
- Promotion of the hashtag #PalangristaApátrida against Sebastiana Barráez. Twitter, September 21, 2020
- Campaign driven by network of troll accounts against Sebastiana Barráez. Twitter, April 11, 2021
- Promotion of the hashtag #NorbeyExtorsionador against Norbey Marín. Twitter, November 8, 202
- Promotion of the hashtag #NorbeyProfugo against Norbey Marín. Twitter and Instagram, November 9, 2021.
- Campaign promoted by network of troll accounts against El Pitazo and PROVEA. Twitter, March 2 to 9, 2021. Special article published on March 10, 2021: In spanish. In english.
- Campaign driven by network with “parody” troll accounts that impersonated Venezuelan journalists Roberto Deniz, Luis Carlos Díaz, Carla Angola, Maibort Petit, Venezuelan websites Armando.info and Alberto News, among others. Special article published on September 14, 2021: In spanish.
The information used to document each case was obtained by reviewing, downloading and analyzing data obtained from open and public sources.
The document will be presented in a Twitter Spaces session through the account @cazamosfakenews, to be held on December 2, 2021 at 8:00 PM. M. (VEN) which will also be attended by Adrián González, executive director of Cazadores de Fake News, Mariví Marín, executive director of Digital Observatory Probox and David Aragort, digital security trainer, activist and researcher at RedesAyuda.
