Software and Societal Systems Department
School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
Multiplatform Social Cybersecurity Analysis of the
Information Environment during the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Ian Kloo, Rebecca Marigliano, Kathleen M. Carley
January 2024
Center for the Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems
CASOS Technical Report
Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine was accompanied by maneuvers in information space meant to shape the social media conversation surrounding the war. BEND provides a useful frame for these maneuvers that can be applied to multiple social media platforms, informing a robust social cybersecurity analysis. Using a toolkit including ORA, Netmapper, and Botbuster, we identified and characterized information space maneuvers on Twitter and Telegram. On both platforms, we found that pro-Russian bots employed sophisticated maneuvers. We also found evidence of authentic (non-bot) pro-Russian users employing a unique combination of BEND maneuvers when compared to other user types on Telegram. Ultimately, this report serves as a case study and capability demonstration to inform broader social cybersecurity analyses.
40 pages
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