#like. was talking to my cousin about his job & the cyber security of it all. & he was like ' the language is so old no one really

[excalibrain]

last last thing about computers.  sorry hyper-focusing here:

so i mentioned that she might not be familiar with modern-day programming languages, but also consider that people aren’t as familiar anymore with what she’d use, either, and that’s also an advantage

[shewillreadyou]

Even though it’s almost Tuesday...

I am working on Chapter 20 of my ROD AU and Chapter 3 of Me Before you: Drake x Riley. Here is a preview. I hope you enjoy. Thanks for the tag @pixie88​

To catch up see my MASTERLIST. Thanks!

First (Because I know you are curious):

The hot water cascaded down his sculpted body. He groaned as he ran his hands through his luscious chocolate locks. He lathered his shoulders as thoughts of her ran through his mind. He was captivated by her. She seemed to consume his every waking moment. Liam had crossed the line yet again. Every time it seemed his transgressions got more and more out of hand. He refused to allow his friend’s actions to ruin his final couple of days in the states.

Bastien had taken over the King’s detail while they were in Waxahachie for Savannah’s wedding. For the next 48 hours, Liam was not his charge, he was his friend. His thoughts went back to her. She represented hope, possibility, promise. He had no idea what was to come, but he knew that it would be an exciting adventure if she was at his side.  

As he pulled his white tee shirt over his head, his mind went back to the conversation he had at the reception with his cousin Tyler, who was a cyber-security analyst with the Department of Homeland security. Drake explained to Tyler that he would no longer be sitting with him and the rest of the bridal party because the girl who he had been telling Tyler about who works in advertising, who he met in New York was there, and he intended to spend as much time with her as he could. She was something special. She could be the one. “So you invited her to Sav’s wedding?” he inquired.

“No, actually she is the friend of Sav’s college roommate, Mackenzie, and came as her plus one. I had no idea she would be here.”

“Sounds like fate.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that of all the places in the world this one person could be she is here at your sister’s wedding... in Waxahachie, TX. If this girl is the one, you’re screwed. You might as well spruce up your resume. She’s a career woman. She is not going to move to Cordonia for you and, you suck at long-distance relationships. I can probably get you in at my job. My guy Rob in HR owes me a favor.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if I ever get the courage to ask her out,” he told Tyler.

And now Ride or Die...

They spent the day after Christmas shopping for maternity clothes. Her favorite pair of pants were being held together with a rubber band. She tried to make a capsule wardrobe like she’d seen on Pinterest. Emmett sat patiently as she tried on piece after piece. Each time she came out seeking his opinion... 2 dresses, 2 tanks, 2 legging, 2 jeans, 3 pants and 7 tops later. 

“Your total after your coupon is, $1,190.48.” 

Bree gasped as she watched Emmett pass over his black AMEX card without a thought. 

“Um Em, I can have my dad send you the money for this.”

“In 4 days time you’ll be my wife. You are no longer your Daddy’s responsibility.”

“Can you even afford this?”

“Yes, we can afford it. Remember when I told you we’d talk later?”

She nodded. 

“Dad’s attorney was able to settle with the state police out of court. The check has already been deposited in my account. We should be set for years. It was the only reason I was comfortable proposing now.” 

“We? Em, That’s your money.”

“What’s mine is yours.”

Emmett picked up a few things for vacation before they headed to the bank. 

“I’ll stay in the car until you are done.”

“Sorry Babygirl, you will have to come inside for this transaction.”

“What transaction?”

He got out of the G-Wagon and walked around helping her out.

“Don’t forget your purse.”

“Em, what are we doing?”

“Babe, we talked about this, putting you on my account.” 

@txemrn @secretaryunpaid @lem-20 @fanjessfic @jessiembruno @khoicesbyk @dcbbw @axwalker @queenrileyrose @sfb123​ 

Whatcha working on?

[pyrodarknessanny]

Whilst the topic of treating women with  respect is a hot button issue at the moment it got me thinking about my own experiences in life. and whilst I can say that I am one of the lucky ones who’s not been assaulted   things have happened around me that  had they gone differently  my story would be very different indeed. it also saddens me  that I know so many close friends and family who were not so lucky , many of them were children when they were first abused. and yes I do know  “not all men”   but   as the brothers , fathers , uncles , cousins ,friends and co-workers  the weight of this falls on you to call out  the  unacceptable behaviour of your peers. I’m going to list this instances in chronological order. and keep in mind that  I am a  goblin , short, weird , don’t care for looking nice and makeup and such  but still  ive been put on the spot numerus times in the past by  “nice guys”™ high school , senior years .   met some one I thought was decent online . we had an on again off again  video call thing going it spanned years  and started innocently enough  however in the latter years  when I was super depressed it turned quite toxic and manipulative   where he would refuse to   pay attention to me, controlling the calls , there was a time zone difference  so I was up till 4am most nights  hoping that this person would be around.    When we did get into calls  he had me doing  increasingly  dangerous things .   he’d even convinced me to  send him a  substantial amount of money of the last 12 months of our contact.          I’ve since cut them off  cold some years ago now but   they’ve certainly had an impact on me

 In between this on again off again online thing   when I was single I’ve and no less than 3   older male friends  try to hit me up because their  partners at the time were out of town. one even messaged me one night when I was high and tried very hard to convince me that it would be a good idea to drop round.       I don’t talk to any of them now but  each one I told to stay faithful to their partners and denied their offers.    

Also in high school - this happened at my  part time job. boss had a mate who would often sell him stuff for the store ,  bit of a flipper. one of the other senior staff thought it was FUNNY  to tell him that  I was fair game. so this guy who is well in his 40’s   would seek me out at work and harass me. usually when I was at the back of the shop bagging the bulk produce into smaller retail portions. mind you I’m  an 18 yr old autistic person .  had to find excuses to  avoid this person   make it look like im working  in the areas that had security cameras on them or   hope that there were customers so he couldn’t  talk to me.       I had spoken out about this  to the boss and  the owner of the business ( as it was one of his friends)   but they  all thought it was a harmless game. guy bailed me up at the back of the store one afternoon as im bagging  up animal feed.  Store was dead quiet  so not a lot of escape options   I had had enough of it by that point  and put him in his place.   Fortunately  for me he was a little old Asian man  had he of been some one of my dad’s stature  that scenario would have played out MUCH differently.  

Hey now speaking of family! growing up in an abusive household sure dose   wounders for building character huh? im on good talking terms with my family now but growing up  was interesting.

Our house hold was one of hard disciplines.  We didn’t just get smacked we got absolutely belted.

Or our things were broken… actually it was only ever MY things that got trashed out of discipline. my 4 brothers always got off Scott free. Whenever there was a fight or argument ? it was always me that was in trouble  regardless of the circumstance.

Good lessons to teach the kids eh’

My real dad  was off the sceen,  we were more or less raised by our step dad but   when he got an upper management job at his place of work , shit at home  got  bad.    The abuse turned from physical   to psychological .     nothing was ever good enough.   You were always trash  or a disgrace. and praise was only ever given to  the brothers.          So  yeah more good lessons  for  impressionable teens.   shitty ex #1 -  met them at a convention , seamed like a reasonable kind of guy we hit it off and it was great.    Very quickly realised something was off about them. tried very hard to control me .  would say one thing and then do something else entirely. caught them out on numerous lies and on more than one occasion said some very concerning things about minors.       Moments that stand out the most .   was staying at my place for a party , either a birthday or Halloween .   at my house with my family and close friends , had the gall to try and control my behaviour  because  he thought I was being too weird , he did this in front of my mother and best friend.     Another time , it was my birthday and he promised  to buy dinner out . started out as  we would go to this fancy casino restaurant .    ended at a Mc Donald’s with me catching the train home by my self  fuming.     I should have ended that one much sooner than I did but I didn’t want to come across as “mean” or unreasonable  so it let it drag out for another 6 months before I told him to fuck off.

 Dude then proceeded to cyber stalk me and  several friends there after. he was super bad at this and  finaly backed off when I threatened to call the cops. YEET!

 Shitty ex #2 -  technically we only dated for a few weeks decided that it didn’t work for either of us but stayed good friends .        had to tell them  frequently  about what things were and weren’t appropriate  for the friendship afterwards ,    eneded turning into one of the biggest narcicists ive ever seen.

 Miscellaneous things.   Im mentioned before about peer pressure and that its on the boys to call this shit out when they see it. I’ve had  to be the voice of reason for a number of male friends   when they were getting  a bit too obsessed over  girls who had zero interest in them.        One guy in particular  could not leave it alone  , this girl he was white knighting for    was a friend from school , she had a partner but he  swore black and blue that   he could “save her”  from making shitty decisions.     I think he eventually gave up on her when she ripped him off over some digital art that was a trace job and he lost  a good sum of money but   it was disturbing to hear just how obsessed he was with  her.

[shes-an-oddbird]

Christmas at River’s End Mall

Summary -  A Christmas AU in which everyone navigates their seasonal jobs, relationships and Christmas spirit, or lack there of, through woven together tales inspired by holiday prompts.

Chapter 6 - Christmas Tree

Summary -   Jemma and Daisy search for a Christmas tree last minute and Jemma tells Daisy about their new house guest.

Prompt - Christmas Tree Relationship - Jemma & Daisy POV - Jemma

Jemma knows the last few boxes are just a little messier than usual and the ribbons slightly askew but she’s in a rush to finish the last of the gifts and clock out. It’s quiet in the mall. The natural day light from the skylights had been replaced with softer moonlight and the harsh fluorescent fixtures cast shadows she doesn’t recall seeing during the day. Gates have been lowered on stores, the only patrons are mall staff and most of them are on their way out too. She cleans up her space quickly; brushing the scraps of her conversations with Fitz into the bin beneath her workspace and making sure all the gifts are secure before pushing her stool under the table and rushing to the stairs.

She’s supposed to meet Daisy so they can finally get their Christmas tree. It’s the first chance they’d had even well into December. Her labs kept her busy and Daisy seemed to work non-stop this time of year. She dedicated her days to volunteering at the mall and that left her freelance cyber security work to be done at all hours of the night.

But someone was covering her labs tonight and Daisy managed to squeeze out a little time in schedule, so this evening they were going to have a Christmas themed girls’ night and decorate their tree, bake cookies, down eggnog and maybe binge a couple of holiday movies.

Jemma was hoping it would put Daisy in a good mood because she had some news that her friend was going to be less than excited about.

She hurried down the steps to the North Pole where a few volunteers were finishing clean up. Daisy is leaning against a table while Daniel, the new volunteer Daisy claims to be the biggest dork, creates neat stacks with piles and piles of envelops.

“You’ve never seen Elf?” She asks him in disbelief.

“No.” He confirms.

“What about A Christmas Carol.”

“Of course.”

“The Muppet version?”

“Um, no.”

“The Grinch?”

“The original.” He says positively.

“Okay, have you watched any movies made after 1990?”

“Not many.”

“Jemma help, he’s never seen Home Alone.”

Jemma knows that while Daisy is chipper and teasing this may truly be causing her distress. “I’m surprised she’s even speaking to you, our first Christmas as roommates I think we had a 48-hour movie marathon of every holiday movie I hadn’t seen.”

“My family only ever watched classics when I was a kid, I may have seen some of these but if I did, I don’t remember them well.” He reasons.

“So watch them again, mix it up.”

He shrugs. “I guess, I just don’t like watching movies alone.”

Daisy huffs, “Well I’m making a list – “

“and checking it twice?” He interrupts her and she shoves his shoulder.

“I’m making a list of must-see Christmas movies and you’re watching them, I’ll watch them with you if I have too, no one should be deprived of watching a grown ass adult’s belief in Santa be restored ten or twelve times in a row.”

“I do hope you’re making this list later because if we don’t get going, they’ll be all closed up soon.” Jemma hates to pull Daisy away from her fun but she’s eager to get their tree.

“Where are you guys off to?”

“We’ve got to get our Christmas tree.”

“Do you need any help?”

“Thanks but we’re good, Bobbi forced Hunter to stay late and help us, might as well put him to work.”

“Fair enough, see you tomorrow?” Daisy nods and they wave goodbye. They walk in silence towards the front entrance of the mall, pulling on their coats and gloves. Jemma adjusts her wool hat so that it covers her ears and checks to see if Daisy is ready to go only to find her looking back in the direction they came from.

Jemma smirks and doesn’t bother to try to hide her amusement. Daisy turns back to her, preparing to pull on her own hat and jumps when she sees she has been caught. “What?” She asks, her cheeks rosy like they’ve already stepped out in the cold.

“Nothing, you’re right though, he’s kind of a dork, sweet though, it was nice of him to offer his help.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

They hurry outside and across the dark parking lot towards the tree lot. There are a few snow-covered cars nearby and Jemma spots Hunter loading a fluffy tree into the bed of a large red truck. As they get closer Jemma can see that the tree farm has been picked over and what is left seems to consist of a few unnecessarily large trees, a few puny ones and the rest look as though they are already on their last limbs.

“Oh dear.” Jemma’s heart sinks and she glances worriedly at Daisy.

“Wow.” Her friend runs her hand over a branch of the nearest tree and several bristles fall to the ground. “Not much to choose from is there, guess it’s my own fault, I should have made time sooner.”

Jemma frowns. Daisy’s attempt to brush off her disappointment is obvious, at least to her. Her friend loved Christmas and putting up the tree was one of her favorite traditions. She had several beautiful ornaments; May and Coulson and even Bobbi had taken to giving her one every year. Just recently she had started to do the same. She always took such care when hanging them.

“I’m sure we will find the perfect one, let’s look around.” Jemma loops her arm through Daisy’s and pulls her along.

The healthy little ones were too small to support Daisy’s vast collection of decorations and the large ones would eat up the small living room of their apartment, but they look and look again for the right one.

“Hello loves,” Hunter steps up behind them, throwing an arm around each of their shoulders. “Bout time you showed up.”

“Hey, you didn’t save us a decent tree, did you?” Daisy asks.

Hunter takes a step back, “you know Bobbi might have mentioned something about that.”

Jemma feels a surge of hope, “so you’ve got one for us?”

“Afraid not.”

“Hunter!”

“Hey, you ever try to deny a tree to someone this time a year, one woman nearly took my head off when I told her the one for you was off limits, this,” he gestures to the scarce lot of trees, “is all you’ve got to choose from.”

Jemma shares an unsure look with Daisy. She wasn’t about to go without a Christmas tree. “Maybe we could get a big one, we can just push the couch aside, we hardly ever use it anyways.”

“Works for me, I get better commission on the big ones and better tips by the way.” They both shoot Hunter a look and he raises hands up in defeat. “Just let me know when you’re ready.” He says and makes a hasty disappearance.

Daisy sighs. “What do you think, we can make it work right?”

Oh damn. She was hoping not to have to bring this up yet. “Actually, we will be needing the couch, very soon actually.”

“Wait why?”

“Remember my cousin Deke?”

“The one with the creepy crush on me?”

Jemma cringes. “Yes well, his parents are flying out to spend Christmas with my parents and he was going to go too, until he heard I was planning to stay here and he thought I should have some family around for Christmas so – “

“Oh, don’t say it.”

“He’s kind of going to be staying with us.”

“Jemma!”

“I’m sorry, if I didn’t take him in, I would have never heard the end of it and he’s been better right, since you had that talk with him.”

“Yeah, but it’s still awkward.”

Jemma was actually quite fond of Deke. He shared her love of science and had a good heart. He was just a bit awkward, not unlike herself. That said it was uncomfortable to be in a room with someone you knew liked you and that was unfair to ask Daisy to do. “Let me call my mom, if I explain – “

“No, it’s okay, he’s really not bad company and I can’t throw him out at Christmas that would be cruel, even for me, besides, I know he’s your favorite cousin.” Daisy stops, maybe to re consider her words, Jemma thinks. “But if I see one lemon Jemma – “

“He’s on the street I swear, favorite or not.”

Daisy laughs and Jemma feels better knowing she’s not actually mad at her. Still she wants to make it up to her. An unexpected house guest was not in their Christmas plans. “Let’s get the big tree, I think I can squeeze an air mattress into my room.”

“We don’t have too.”

“We should, we never have enough room for all the ornaments anyways, this way we will.”

“Really?” Daisy asks hopefully and she nods insistently. Her eyes light up. “Alright, which one?”

“How about this one?” Jemma points to a vibrant green one that towers over the pair.

“I like this one.” Daisy points to a slight smaller one, the bristles are a bit browner but it would be a better size for the apartment.

“Are you sure, this one looks healthier.”

“Come on, I bet you could nurse it back to health and I’m afraid no one else will take it.”

Jemma doesn’t question Daisy’s attachment to the misfit tree. It wouldn’t be the first time she picked something that was a little different or a little odd. “It will be beautiful.”

[ultratesterthings]

CNN tracks US social media trolls to Ghana, then Russia before 2020 vote - CNN

An image from a now-deleted Facebook page of one of the trolls touted alleged police targeting of African Americans.

Referring to a Republican state senator, the post continued: "Someone needs to take that Senator out."

On another occasion, @africamustwake tweeted: "YOU POLICE BEEN KILLING BLACKS SINCE YA RAGGEDY MOMMAS GAVE BIRTH TO U. HAPPY MLK DAY TO U HYPOCRITES."

More than 200 accounts were created by the Ghanaian trolls -- the vast majority in the second half of 2019 -- and they reached hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people worldwide.

Facebook and Twitter had already been looking into some of the troll accounts when CNN notified the two companies of our investigation. In a statement Thursday, Facebook said that its "subsequent assessment benefited from our collaboration with a team of journalists at CNN" and it had "removed 49 Facebook accounts, 69 Pages and 85 Instagram accounts for engaging in foreign interference."

Facebook said: "This network was in early stages of audience building and was operated by local nationals -- witting and unwitting -- in Ghana and Nigeria on behalf of individuals in Russia. It targeted primarily the United States."

Facebook says that about 13,200 Facebook accounts followed one or more of the Ghana accounts and around 263,200 people followed one or more of Instagram accounts, about 65% of whom were in the US.

Twitter told CNN that it had removed 71 accounts that had 68,000 followers. "Most were tweeting in English and presented themselves as based in the United States," it said in a statement. "The accounts -- operating out of Ghana and Nigeria and which we can reliably associate with Russia -- attempted to sow discord by engaging in conversations about social issues, like race and civil rights."

The activity uncovered by CNN had striking similarities to the Russian troll campaign of 2016, which created hundreds of accounts designed to pass as American. @africamustwake, for example, which described itself as a "Platform For #BLM #Racism #PoliceBrutality," claimed to be in Florida.

Other accounts, for example, claimed to be in Brooklyn or New Orleans.

One of the accounts even pretended to be the cousin of an African American who died in police custody. The post was then shared to a Facebook group called Africans in the United States. The group told CNN it had no idea that trolls were trying to engage it.

Another also implied they were in the US, tweeting in February: "Just experienced blatant #racism in Downton (sic) Huntsville, Alabama ... Three of my black male friends were turned away because they were 'out of dress code.'"

There was a concerted effort to agitate in the US. One of the trolls -- Black People Trendz -- posted to the Facebook page of Black Lives Matter in Cincinnati. Another -- @The_black_secret -- was devoted to police shootings of African Americans. It also posted a video of a racial incident with the comment "Blacks have a right to defend themselves against Racism" that drew more than 5,000 reactions and more than 2,000 shares.

CNN worked with two Clemson University professors -- Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren -- in tracking the Ghanaian operation. Linvill said the campaign was straight out of the Russian playbook, trying to mask its efforts among groups in the US.

"They were very closely engaged in the Black Lives Matter community," he said. "They talked almost exclusively about what was happening on the streets of the United States and not on the streets of Africa."

Kailee Scales, managing director of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, said her organization was proactive when it came to protecting its voice online. "We are walking into the 2020 election cycle with eyes wide open to the fact that international and domestic actors are striving to undermine our organizing, and we are not going to let that happen," she told CNN.

Inside the troll farm

The operation's headquarters were in a walled compound in a quiet residential district near the Ghanaian capital, Accra. It had been rented by a small nonprofit group that called itself Eliminating Barriers for the Liberation of Africa (EBLA).

This building was used as the headquarters for Ghanaians posing as Americans and posting on social media.

Sixteen Ghanaians, mostly in their 20s, worked at the compound; some lived rent-free in a nearby apartment. They were issued mobile phones, not laptops, and worked around a table. The EBLA trolls communicated as a group through the encrypted Telegram app, which is rarely used in Ghana.

One of the trolls agreed to talk to CNN, so long as her identity was disguised. She said she had no idea she would be working as a Russian troll. She said that employees were given topics to post about. "So you get stories about LGBT, you get stories about police brutality, depends on what you are working," she said.

Employees would sit at this table to create posts and tweets on their phones, one worker told CNN.

The employee said they were told that the best time to tweet and post was late afternoon and at night in Ghana, times when a US audience would have been active. They were given US articles to read.

Facebook said that although the people behind the campaign had attempted to conceal their purpose and coordination, its investigation had found links to both EBLA and "individuals associated with past activity by the Russian Internet Research Agency."

The Internet Research Agency (IRA) was responsible for much of the foreign trolling activity aimed at the 2016 and 2018 US election campaigns, according to the US government. The IRA was funded by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is so close to the Kremlin that he is nicknamed "Putin's chef."

Yevgeny Prigozhin, in Moscow in 2017, funded the 2016 IRA trolling.

A CNN request for comment from Prigozhin's holding company, Concord Management, on the Ghana trolling operation went unanswered.

The man running EBLA calls himself Mr. Amara and claims to be South African. In reality he is a Ghanaian who lives in Russia and his name is Seth Wiredu. Several of EBLA's workers said they had heard Wiredu speak Russian.

Late last year, Wiredu extended EBLA's activities to Nigeria, filling at least eight positions, including a project manager to help with "social media management." CNN uncovered the postings for two of the jobs, and a source in Nigeria confirmed that the employees shared office space in Lagos. The Nigerian accounts posted predominantly on US issues too.

And at the end of January this year, EBLA ventured even further afield. It advertised a position in Charleston, South Carolina, just as the IRA had done in 2016. The LinkedIn posting invited applicants to "join hands with our brothers and sisters world-wide, especially in the United States where POC are mostly subjected to all forms of Brutality."

The posting on LinkedIn stopped accepting applications days later.

EBLA had a website touting its advocacy work, but CNN found the photos had likely been uploaded by someone using a Cyrillic keyboard, unusual outside of Russia.

On February 6, Ghanaian security services raided the EBLA compound. On that same day the group stopped posting on the social media accounts it had created. One of the workers told CNN they were told to lie on the ground and had guns pointed at them. They were interrogated by police and the phones used to post on the fake accounts were confiscated.

When CNN visited the compound two weeks later, it appeared to have been abandoned.

In a statement to CNN, the Ghanaian security services said their Cyber Security Unit had become suspicious of EBLA's activities and believed it was engaged in "organized radicalism with links to a foreign body." They added that they had determined that "EBLA receives its funding from an anonymous source in a European country."

Ghanaian security sources subsequently told CNN that all of EBLA's funding had come from Russia.

Wiredu does not seem to have been deterred by the raid. Early in March, he called a meeting of EBLA workers. CNN observed the meeting from close by.

Seth Wiredu, seen here in a frame from a hidden camera video, said he had no idea why his offices were raided by Ghanaian security forces.

Wiredu told the workers, whom he met in several groups, that the trouble with the security services would soon pass, according to someone at the meeting. He told them they would be returning to work and should create new accounts, providing him with the passwords.

Approached by CNN after the meeting, Wiredu denied he had ever worked for the Internet Research Agency or knew Prigozhin.

"I wouldn't say I have Russian partners. I have friends ... but to call them partners wouldn't be right because I don't ask someone to come and support me," he said. He said he did translation work for many entities in Russia.

Wiredu insisted he funded EBLA from his own income and did not understand why the Ghanaian security forces had raided the compound. He said the accounts had been "talking about what is important to black people, talking about racism, talking about police brutality."

"I actually, I perceive myself as a blacksfighter. I fight for black people," Wiredu added.

Wiredu acknowledged that he had called himself Amara and pretended to be South African.

EBLA's targets in the US followed a long-established pattern, according to Linvill and Warren at Clemson, who work with US law enforcement in tracking trolling activities.

Clemson professors Darren Linvill, left, and Patrick Warren often see new fake accounts replacing any that are shut down.

"There's a long history, actually dating back to the Soviet Union, of Russia emphasizing the real and serious racial divisions that exist in the United States. But also trying to inflame those divisions," Warren said.

According to an indictment released in February 2018 by special counsel Robert Mueller, Russian operatives working for the Internet Research Agency used social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram -- including ones called "Woke Blacks" and "Blacktivists" -- to urge Americans to vote for third-party candidates or sit out the election entirely.

This building in St. Petersburg, Russia, became known as the "troll factory."

Three months later, Facebook removed 70 Facebook and 65 Instagram accounts -- as well as 138 Facebook Pages -- that were controlled by the IRA. Facebook also took down other Russian operations not linked to IRA in 2018.

CNN's investigation found the accounts created in Ghana were consistently coordinated, posting on the same topic within hours of each other. Instagram accounts appear to have done especially well: the most popular Instagram account built a following of more than 25,000, three times its Twitter audience.

One EBLA-branded image was retweeted by a Twitter account with 126,000 followers, greatly amplifying the group's message.

Wiredu closely monitored the impact of the expanding operation, according to several EBLA employees who spoke to CNN. One of them said they provided their passwords to him and every week had to report details of the reach of their accounts. They used Twitter analytics to examine their growth and were told they would get bonuses and higher pay if their accounts grew significantly.

Some of the trolls' posts incorporated video with the EBLA logo burned in. The @AfricaMustWake Twitter account posted a video in December carrying the EBLA logo, showing alleged police brutality in Chicago.

In November, another account -- @AfricaThen -- posted an EBLA-labeled video with the caption: "A female white supremacist went into a Popeyes using the N-word at the employees.. and she ended up getting a Grand Slam breakfast #Racism #kickitout #CHANGE."

What's next in Ghana -- and elsewhere

It's unclear whether Wiredu will succeed in reconstituting the EBLA operation after the February raid. He certainly intends to try, according to one of the EBLA workers, who told CNN that he had encouraged them to begin new accounts.

To the Clemson researchers, building troll networks in Ghana and Nigeria would be smart tradecraft. "It's definitely spreading out the risk," Linvill said. "You can have accounts operating from entirely different parts of the globe and it might make your operation harder to identify overall."

More broadly, Russia has certainly shown growing interest in Africa -- using a mix of state power and private interests. Those private interests include Russian companies keen to exploit Africa's energy and commodity resources, as well as provide private military contractors to bolster local security forces.

A CNN investigation last year found that companies linked to Prigozhin were active in the Central African Republic, training its army and police forces and winning concessions to extract diamonds and gold. Prigozhin companies or contractors have also been present in Libya, Sudan and Mozambique.

They have also tried to influence the politics of several African countries.

Last October, Facebook closed networks of accounts that were actively targeting a total of eight African countries. It said that: "Although the people behind these networks attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, our investigation connected these campaigns to entities associated with Russian financier Yevgeny Prigozhin."

Russia has shown increasing interest in Africa, including in Accra, Ghana, where these fishing boats sit.

Russia's continuing interest in Africa as a platform for expanding its influence has taken on a new complexion with the trolling enterprise in Ghana -- demonstrating an adaptability and persistence that will cause deep concern among US intelligence agencies and the technology companies.

US Sen. Mark Warner, vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in response to CNN's reporting: "I've said for years now that it would be foolish to believe there was only the one well-publicized IRA facility in St. Petersburg. This new reporting is a reminder of the continuing threat we face from Russia and its continuing efforts to divide and manipulate us on social media."

Linvill, the Clemson professor, believes that despite their work and the CNN investigation there are many more troll accounts out there. He recalls that last year he turned over to Twitter a number of fake Ghanaian accounts. Twitter suspended them. "But a week later, there was another set of accounts to replace them."

Journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni in Ghana, CNN's Stephanie Busari in Nigeria and CNN's Darya Tarasova in Russia contributed to this story, which was reported from Accra, Ghana; London; Moscow; Lagos, Nigeria, and Clemson, South Carolina. The video was shot by CNN's Scott McWhinnie and edited by CNN's Oscar Featherstone.

This content was originally published here.

[uplovelife]

Creating UpLove

Finding Comfort and Safety in Being Openly Gay with Oneself and With Other

At twenty-three years old I unexpectedly met a man that I love. Love love. The kind of love that makes you think twice, the Sunday kind of love. I’m half in the closet and I feel safe here, safe living a double life. I feel secure here and with each step I take in coming out to the world I’m greeted with warm embraces from my friends, co-workers and hopefully one day soon, my family. I’m fortunate. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t embrace homosexuality and the LGBTQ community the way we do in Canada. UpLove, a newly created safe space, learning environment and online community resource centre can be accessed from countries around the world, providing unbiased information to the LGBTQ community and its supporters. UpLove has been built on Facebook and Tumblr to provide two different communities totalling over two billion users free access to information that will continue to update daily for as long the UpLove pages are active. The primary focus of UpLove is to touch on different areas the LGBTQ community face everyday; the good, the bad and the ugly. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is the core of UpLove. The articles, videos and photos that will be posted daily to each site will help support the most basic of human needs to self-actualization, thus helping men, women, boys and girls, globally feel confident with who they are, the decisions they make and the life they choose to live. UpLove is the hug for a little gay boy crying alone in his room, the sunlight shining brightly on the butch lesbian track star who stands out in more ways than one, the lyrics to Bill Withers’ Lean On Me for a husband/father/son/politician who’s driving in circles because he can’t go home to live another day lying. 

UpLove is a global community of answers and inspiration for everyone. In addition to articles which will help with the highlight reels of the lives we see in the LGBTQ community there are also resources for what we leave off our personal Facebook accounts, don’t post on LinkedIn and wouldn’t want the world to read on the front page of the daily news. UpLove will also speak to sexual health, recreational drug use, suicide hotlines and the importance of mental and physical health. The world can be an intimidating place. As a gay man to some, a straight man to others, a son, grandson, brother, cousin, friend, boyfriend, co-worker, student and overall great fucking guy; I’m helping to paint a brighter world for anyone who wants it, needs it, or wants to help paint too. Colours will be vibrant, lines will be taken away, crossed, and blurred (queue Robin Thicke) -solace will be found. The perspective I use for article selection now and in the future will forever be changing and growing. I wish for followers and readers to remember one thing, that no matter how deep words can cut, how hard a beating can feel, how long recovery can take, everything will be okay if you just look UpLove (look up love). 

There are tens of thousands if not millions of websites, blogs, vlogs, academic articles, movies, books, magazines, TED talks, online and hard copy publications, etc., that speak to the experiences that a large global community feel and UpLove is proud to join the list of global supporters. Homosexuality has been around so long that the Bible speaks to it. It is the opinion of many that homosexuality is blasphemous, unrighteous and unholy which has created a global stigma; one that has only in the past few years has become more widely and openly accepted. Across the globe men and women are still being publicly shamed, jailed, beaten and killed for being themselves. UpLove is a compilation of uplifting resources. Such spaces are required and have been for years to help both women and men be their true selves. With increasing bullying, cyber attacks, and political figures speaking negatively about homosexuality it is a very strong deterrent for anyone who might like to dabble in men, women, women and men and want to be open about who they are. Five particular organizations that come to mind immediately are Rainbow Railroad who “helps LGBT people escape persecution and violence”, Egale Canada “an advocacy organization founded to advance equality for Canadian lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their families, across Canada”, Pink Triangle Press “a Canadian organization which specializes in LGBT media including publishing, online interactive media, and television”, Hassle Free Clinic (Toronto) which “provides free medical and counselling services in many areas of sexual health to men and women” (anonymity optional), PFLAG Canada “a national non-profit organization which brings together family and friends of LGBT people in Canada.” Each of these organization is incredible, from the articles they write to the lives they save. Information can be hard to find, difficult to understand and often we can feel alone in our quest to be ourselves. UpLove supports the efforts of everyone on the path to self-expression as each of these organizations do. 

UpLove’s purpose is to help people be themselves through the wisdom and guidance of others who have previously had similar experiences or are experiencing the thoughts, feelings and/or situations currently. The UpLove campaign consists of two social media platforms which reach over two billion users combined, allowing UpLove to help brighten the lives of those who read and or follow either or both pages. In wanting to help the LGBTQ community UpLove will strive to remove stigmas, help those living with a disease such as AIDS or HIV, help increase comfort with conversation about sex and sexuality, finding salvation in Canada, self love, acceptance, finding your pack, employment, feeling safe in your community, living in and leaving bad situations (including but not limited to family, friends, partners, and jobs), self help publications, websites, articles, suicide prevention hotlines, life saving and recreational drugs, and sexual health (awareness, safety, prevention and treatment).

 It is my hope that over the coming months and years we build a following that is a true community with information always available to those who need it. UpLove will be on both Facebook and Tumblr to reach both younger and older generations alike. Facebook was selected for the older demographic and those who might not necessarily have ventured into other forms of social media. Tumblr was selected to reach a younger demographic, allowing for UpLove’s content and meaning to spread faster.This ongoing project was created because I understand the struggle, stigma, and loneliness of homosexuality in addition to the light that shines in one's life when you accept yourself for who you are. Over the past few years I struggled with self-acceptance and the wonderment of knowing if I would still be loved if I were to actually be myself, I had questions about sex and safe sexual practice, I wondered if there was a place I could go to find shelter should my family find out I’m gay and reject me. I’m still learning so many of these answers and with each passing day have more questions. I’m thrilled to know that all of these resources are there for both me and others in my current position as well as each position I will have in the future. The absolute importance and necessity of this project comes from the hate we see in the world today. I’m fortunate to live in a country where I can have a voice to speak for both myself and those who are unable to speak for themselves. Over the coming months I will work to increase the UpLove following, ensure content is relevant and remind our followers that they are not alone, I’m on this journey with them, and at any time they can reach out to any one of these organizations. 

I wanted to create a project with a cause; and while brainstorming for ideas, I kept reading the definition of the word “cause”. I was unclear with which direction I would take, what meant the most to me and what I could openly and honestly speak to. I dug deep. I opened the floodgates of my heart, body and soul. I remembered past dark feelings and today, as I sit across the table from the man I openly love, I think about how everyone should be able to have this amazing feeling and the importance of having a full heart.