Tommy Boy

Tommy Robinson: Free but NOT innocent

By HOPE not hate’s Right Response team

British far-right extremist Tommy Robinson (AKA Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) garnered international attention this week after being released following his recent jailing.

While his supporters have been quick to declare his innocence, the reality is Lennon has only been released on bail and will have to return to court for the allegations against him to be reheard. Nonetheless, he has become the cause célèbre of the international far right, and it is in the US that Lennon has most caught the imagination of the right wing.

Read HOPE not hate’s analysis of Lennon’s release and transatlantic support here.

Research/Projects

• This week Facebook announced that they’d detected and deleted “32 Pages and accounts from Facebook and Instagram” for “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” Facebook has been working with The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Research Lab (DFR) to better identify this kind of activity. DFR Lab published a lengthy blog post with all the details. You can also check out this Twitter thread from Ben Nimmo on their research.

ICYMI

• Why We’re Sharing 3 Million Russian Troll Tweets (Fivethirtyeight)
• Alex Jones, Pursued Over Infowars Falsehoods, Faces a Legal Crossroads (New York Times)
• When a Stranger Decides to Destroy Your Life (Gizmodo)
• How Silicon Valley Became a Den of Spies (Politico)
• Q&A: Sleeping Giants Founder Talks InfoWars, Doxxing and the Corrosive Effects of Social Media (Ad Week)
• White threat in a browning America (Vox)
• Inside the World of Racist Science Fiction (New York Times)
• Trump Keeps White Supremacist Donations To 2020 Campaign (Forward)
• Bosnian Serb PM Meets Trump’s ‘Alt-Right’ Former Strategist (Balkan Insight)
• Local GOP Warms To Alt-Right Activist James Allsup, Claims He Was ‘Label-Lynched’ (Right Wing Watch)

Coda

Quick plug for this week’s Senate Intelligence Committee open hearing on Foreign Influence Operations and their use of Social Media Platforms. Senate Intelligence continue to be the adults in the room, putting aside partisan fighting to try and protect Americans from foreign influence. This hearing was chock full of helpful information, from the right group of witnesses giving extra testimony. If you want a realistic view of how prepared America is going into the 2018 election, this one is worth your time.