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joe bodnar

@joeabodnar

I track state-backed info ops at @isdglobal.bsky.social. Cited by the Economist, AP, CNN, Washington Post, and others. Opinions mine and open to change

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25.01.2024
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Latest posts by joe bodnar @joeabodnar

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U.S. at Fault in Strike on School in Iran, Preliminary Inquiry Says

I guess all those people on X who claimed it was an Iranian missile and Bellingcat had lied about it being a Tomahawk are rushing to correct themselves - U.S. at Fault in Strike on School in Iran, Preliminary Inquiry Says
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/u...

11.03.2026 15:02 πŸ‘ 482 πŸ” 127 πŸ’¬ 15 πŸ“Œ 0

Poking around a sample of ~400K X posts about the girls school bombing.

A RT post has the 3rd most retweets. A CNN post has the 63rd most retweets -- and it's the highest engaged with post by an independent media outlet about the bombing.

11.03.2026 14:29 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Example of X's AI policy in action. Same image: one post with 4M views has no AI label, another with 304K does.

10.03.2026 15:06 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I bought The Score after hearing the author on the Gray Area podcast. Really enjoyed the first half and last few chapters, but I learned way too much about random board games and yoyos.

Granted, I bought a new yoyo, but still.

10.03.2026 12:41 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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That video of Epstein and Trump? It might be pro-Iran disinformation. Accounts are drawing millions of views for pro-Tehran posts by tapping into the conspiracy theory that the president attacked Iran to distract the public from the Epstein files.

Good coverage of a pro-Iran network we spotted pushing Epstein conspiracies and AI nonsense about the war.

We're continuing to monitor as it churns out new accounts. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

10.03.2026 12:36 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Absurd propaganda

08.03.2026 15:56 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Russia is providing Iran intelligence to target U.S. forces, officials say The targeting information has included the locations of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East, the officials said.

This is interesting. But it is more interesting that Trump is rewarding Moscow for doing this by helping Russia sell oil, repeating Russian propaganda points, and senselessly burning through weapon stocks.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

06.03.2026 19:57 πŸ‘ 1582 πŸ” 691 πŸ’¬ 74 πŸ“Œ 34
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Bit of a spike in X followers for Iran's foreign minister.

Decided to take a look after seeing accounts like Kim Dotcom's advocate for people to follow him.

06.03.2026 19:46 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Since the conflict in Iran began on 28 Feb, ISD has been tracking narratives from Russian, Iranian or Chinese-state backed and state-linked actors on social media. Our second update below ⬇️

06.03.2026 18:44 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 3

A month after 1516 targeted Macron with Epstein lies, they go after Zelensky. They really don't like Macron.

06.03.2026 19:13 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

There's a war happening, but Russian IOs are going local today. Here's 1516 targeting a mayoral race in France, and Overload has been targeting local elections in Germany.

05.03.2026 16:55 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

It’d be a good time to have CrowdTangle.

04.03.2026 01:05 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Yeah, I get it's complicated. I just think it's funny after all the talk of China becoming the global AI leader that they're continually using Western models.

That could change in the future, and I could get better at snark.

27.02.2026 15:54 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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A Chinese official’s use of ChatGPT accidentally revealed a global intimidation operation | CNN Politics A sprawling Chinese influence operation β€” accidentally revealed by a Chinese law enforcement official’s use of ChatGPT β€” focused on intimidating Chinese dissidents abroad, including by impersonating U...

If DeepSeek is such a Chinese threat, why aren't Chinese threat actors sticking to it?

edition.cnn.com/2026/02/25/p...

27.02.2026 15:39 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

My X account is such a cesspool of pro-Iran AI content that I don't even know where to begin research. It's the worst I've ever seen my algorithm.

23.02.2026 21:42 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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In the recent weeks our team identified several disinformation campaigns around the upcoming parliamentary election in Hungary, which appear to be conducted by the Storm-1516 operators. The election seem to be critical for the rule of Viktor Orban, the biggest Russian ally in EU

23.02.2026 15:14 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Wow. In ten minutes of scrolling X, my For You page served me three Overload posts and a Storm-1516 post.

That's insane. What a megaphone for Russian info ops.

18.02.2026 13:57 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Overload has been grabbing Cameo videos from random celebrities and using AI audio to make it sound like they're calling for Zelensky to be killed. Those videos have been on X for five days now. Absolutely wild.

H/t @ushadrons.bsky.social, who spotted this last week.

17.02.2026 19:10 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Really interesting alleged leak from a former Prigozhin project now tied to the SVR. One thing jumped out to my nerd brain:

The mention an op targeting the French firm Orano, which was active in Niger. Back in 2024, Storm-1516 circulated disinfo about Orano’s role in Niger. Quite a coincidence.

17.02.2026 14:46 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

This isn't getting near enough attention.

Within the span of a week, Russia's most sophisticated information operation laundered two narratives through Chinese state media.

Seems like a signal that Russia and China are willing to cooperate more closely on IOs?

11.02.2026 18:50 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Operation Overload runs the same play over and over. It's lazy clockwork.

Here's a claim from a few days ago next to a claim from last year. They look a lot alike.

06.02.2026 17:49 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Finally, we have a definitive answer to the question of whether AI, bots, and laundering tactics will improve China’s information operations.

The answer is no.

26.01.2026 14:53 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Among the many reasons you don’t kidnap a foreign head of state at gunpoint even if you have the capability, is that it sparks consequences you can neither control nor anticipate.

03.01.2026 10:27 πŸ‘ 19915 πŸ” 4441 πŸ’¬ 363 πŸ“Œ 205
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Scoop: TikTok signs deal for sale of U.S. unit after yearslong saga The deal would end a yearslong saga to force TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the company's U.S. operation.

The US TikTok sale has been signed. The company will be controlled by a joint venture including Oracle, Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, Abu Dhabi-based MGX. Adding a UAE company really makes it clear that this was never about national security concerns.

www.axios.com/2025/12/18/t...

18.12.2025 23:35 πŸ‘ 2964 πŸ” 1194 πŸ’¬ 92 πŸ“Œ 138
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Graphika recently reported on a pro-CCP network attacking Missouri AG Catherine Hanaway. Finding the network wasn't hard. It's using the hashtag FuckHanaway.

Here's what else it's talking about. I should stress, though, that no one is listening. The engagement is tragically low.

19.12.2025 13:57 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Big spike in articles published by the Pravda Network site focused on Australia.

More than 400% increase from Dec 13 to Dec 14.

15.12.2025 17:58 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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I believe this is Iran's Storm-2035 making a push against the Trump administration's actions against Venezuela by using the hashtag ElMundoRepudiaATrump on X.

Several of these accounts are confirmed 2035.

12.12.2025 20:08 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Meta's Threat Report essentially declared the end of Iran's Endless Mayfly operation, at least on Meta platforms.

That's not entirely the case. There's a few Insta stragglers tied to IUVM and at least a dozen Insta accounts posting identical hashtags and content to X accounts flagged by OpenAI.

12.12.2025 18:10 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The Ministry of State Security is just like us! Reminds me of one hacktivist Telegram channel that periodically shares screenshots of their TryHackMe progress.

10.12.2025 19:35 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Per Z-Pentest, she only drew pictures πŸ™ƒ

10.12.2025 15:46 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0