Using Fake Accounts to Harassment Campaigns

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Axt maria and i worked hand in hand on some of these case studies. It was a very disheartening moment, because she and i were research partners. We see many targeted harassment campaign that started very inorganic, very manipulated. I think we don't talk nearly enough about the fact that when you use fake accounts, when you use inauthentic amplification, the angle is to create and curate the community of real people that will continue the fake movement that you have ceded.

Disinformation researchers have been fighting two battles over the last decade: one to combat and contain harmful information, and one to convince the world that these manipulations have an offline impact that requires complex, nuanced solutions. Camille François, Chief Information Officer at the cybersecurity company Graphika and an affiliate of the Harvard Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, believes that our common understanding of the problem has recently reached a new level. In this interview, she catalogues the key changes she observed between studying Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and helping convene and operate the Election Integrity Partnership watchdog group before, during and after the 2020 election. “I'm optimistic, because I think that things that have taken quite a long time to land are finally landing, and because I think that we do have a diverse set of expertise at the table,” she says. Camille and Tristan Harris dissect the challenges and talk about the path forward to a healthy information ecosystem.