Twitter suspends accounts reporting on military operations using open source data

Twitter suspended at least three accounts which sent Tweets on military operations worldwide using open source intelligence (OSINT). The reason for suspension of one of the accounts was according Twitter “the violation of Indian law”. While the exact reason was not given, there could be two. First it could be the accounts were suspended because they were suspected of spreading fake news about the India-Pakistan conflict. The other reason could be these accounts communicated about military movements.

Twitter suspending these accounts is a serious issue and a obstruction of freedom of speech.

OSINT has become extremely important the last couple of years . Worldwide there are many conflicts. It takes journalists a lot of time to study what is really going on and if human rights are abused. Without being use OSINT data posted on Twitter Bellingcat would be much more limited in reporting on Syria, Yemen, Sudan and MH17.

At Saturday evening June 15 Twitter suspended the accounts of @ELINTNews and @Beepdelete. @ELINTNews had 32,000 followers at the time of suspension and @Beepdelete had nearly 6,000 followers. Also the backup accounts @Maydelete  and @ELINTNews2 were suspended.

Similar accounts suspended are Pakistan Defence Command  @PDCMDOfficial and @PakistanIntell. Not sure about the content of these two accounts.

On Monday the account of @IntelCrab was suspended as well. This account had over 50,000 followers. At around midnight of the same day that account was unsuspended again. The reason given by Twitter support for the suspension was that @Intelcrab created ‘ serial/multiple accounts with overlapping use cases’. Intelcrab stated

Outside of @IntelCrab I run a small personal account where occasional cross-posting/retweeting occurs. Was never an issue until this morning. No warning was given. I only got the official explanation you see bellow after filing an appeal. Odd.

Also ELINTNews recieved a similar message by Twitter support.

All three accounts informed their followers on all kind of military operations in various conflict zones. Some examples of their Tweets are movements of military equipment in Venezuela during protests against the Maduro government and the recent attack on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. Elintnews for example was watching closely the supply of weapons and ammunition by Iran to the Syrian army using aircraft.

IntelCrab in June 2015 identified a Russian Pantsir surface to air missile deployed near the Syrian border with #Israel.

All  three owners of these accounts used open source intelligence (OSINT) information. This means they used photos found online, sources like Flightradar24 and maritime tracking sites. The owners are very knowledgeable in combining different sources and make information out of it.

The owner of @Elintnews  received a message from Twitter about the suspension stating his Tweets violated Indian law. Elintnews sent Tweets about movements of Indian Air Force aircraft related to the conflict with Pakistan in Punjab.

In March 2019 Elintnews send a Tweet about the Indian Air Force.

#UPDATE: Video taken today reported to show IAF Su-30MKI roaring over Punjab, India pic.twitter.com/Hj5WzHXFfo

— ELINT News (@ELINTNews) March 2, 2019

In May 14, 2019 Deccan Chronicle, an Indian newspaper with a circulation of 1,3 million copies, reported about Twitter accounts spreading alleged fake news about Indian military operations. The accounts, according the newspaper, pretend to be neutral but in fact have Pakistani roots. In the article @INTELCrab and @ElintNews were mentioned.

Some of the many acounts on Twitter using OSINT tools informed their followers about movements by the Indian Air Force. Many military aircraft can be monitored using Flightradar24 which tracks aircraft movements worldwide. No special equipment nor knowledge is needed to track these flights. Pakistan Intelligence for sure does not rely on these Twitter posts. Pakistan had advanced radar. I am not sure if the three suspended accounts posted movements of military aircraft in Indian airspace.

It is odd Indian Air Force objects to users posting public available information. They can send a request to Flightradar and other aircraft tracking sites to block display of their aircraft. Many aircraft owners did just that.

Earlier in Venezuela someone was arrested for posting movements of the private jet of president Maduro.

Why did Twitter suspend these accounts?

Most likely Twitter was contacted by Indian authorities stating the information of these accounts violated Indian law. It is remarkable Twitter acted on that request as the company is subject to American law. However more and more countries have laws which demand social media platforms to delete fake news or otherwise illegal content. If the social media companies fail to take action high fines can be presented. Germany is an example of such a country. I am not sure if India has the same kind of law.

Commercial reasons can also explain the step Twitter took. India is ranked 8th as country with the most Twitter users. It has around 30 tot 33 million users. Still far less than Facebook which has about 270 million users in India.