Workshop Proceedings of the 15th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media

Workshop: International Workshop on Social Sensing (SocialSens 2021): Special Edition on Information Operations on Social Media

DOI: 10.36190/2021.36

Published: 2021-06-01
Multi-platform Information Operations: Twitter, Facebook and YouTube against the White Helmets
Kin Wai NG, Sameera Horawalavithana, Adriana Iamnitchi

Social media platforms are often used as a tool for hosting strategic information operations (e.g., disinformation, influence campaigns, or political propaganda). Understanding how these operations span across multiple social media platforms as opposed to a single platform is a critical step towards the design of strategies that effectively limit their spread. This work provides an analysis of the White Helmets campaign from three platforms: YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. We considered YouTube videos as the means to bridge the gap between other social media platforms. In this study, we show that YouTube content in support of similar narratives is often promoted on different channels. We analyze how YouTube content is advertised in other social media platforms. Finally, we highlight a number of unusual patterns that may hint at coordinated inauthentic behaviors.