Sudan’s Warring Sides Target Citizens with Digital Disinformation Campaigns

ADF STAFF

As Sudan’s capital city continues to be rocked by explosions and gunfire, its residents are being victimized by another attack: relentless disinformation and propaganda campaigns.

Between them, Sudan’s two warring generals –– Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, have more than 2.3 million Twitter followers — 1.4 million for al-Burhan and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), and 900,000 for Hemedti and his Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia. According to analysts, the RSF has also hijacked 900 dormant Twitter accounts to spread messages presenting itself in a positive light.

“Both warring sides have increased the volume of photos, videos, interviews and statements being circulated by their spokespeople and social media accounts, in what is obviously an attempt to whitewash their role in derailing Sudan’s transition to democracy,” Ethiopia-based researcher Maram Mahdi of the Institute for Security Studies recently wrote.

As the head of Sudan’s government, al-Burhan has influence over the government-owned and operated National Broadcasting Corp., which has aligned itself with the SAF. The network reports little about the fighting. What it does report is favorable toward the SAF.

The RSF has used its Twitter feeds and hijacked accounts to broadcast daily statements and footage from Hemedti and the RSF. Much of that material is in English rather than the group’s usual Arabic content, indicating the RSF is trying to appeal to international supporters.

The RSF’s propaganda campaign took a hit just before the 2021 coup when Facebook removed 116 pages, 666 user accounts, 69 groups, and 92 Instagram fake accounts that amplified RSF statements by pretending to be Sudanese news outlets.

According to Mahdi, the RSF is using its propaganda to rebrand itself as pro-democracy and committed to freedom, justice and peace in Sudan. One recent post announced the creation of a hotline “to receive complaints and distress calls from citizens and residents of different nationalities in areas controlled by the RSF.”

In addition to the RSF’s hijacked Twitter accounts, the propaganda campaign underpinning the conflict includes the SAF’s use of bots and trolls to boost its own disinformation.

An analysis by Valent Projects found the top 5% of pro-SAF Twitter accounts have classic indicators of bot/troll activity. Those 113 accounts showed indicators such as generic names, mass posting and account creation around the time of the 2019 uprising against military rule. They spout slogans like “support the Sudanese army,” “neutrality is treason” and “we are all the army,” Valent reported.

Valent examined more than 12,500 tweets using a pro-SAF hashtag. The most active posters are accounts designed to resemble ordinary citizens who support the army.

“We found large-scale manipulation promoting escalation, whilst authentic Sudanese voices called for an end to the violence,” Valent Projects reported on its own Twitter feed. “The overall intent is to gaslight Sudanese and observers into thinking there is a groundswell of support for the military to escalate.”