Summary: Profit from disinformation, conspiracy theories, or online harm. In some cases, the sole objective is financial gain, in other cases the objective is both financial and political. Making money may also be a way to sustain a political campaign.
Tactic: TA02 Plan Objectives
| Associated Technique | Description |
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| Incident | Descriptions given for this incident |
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| I00075 How Russia Meddles Abroad for Profit: Cash, Trolls and a Cult Leader | “Earlier in July [2021], an account posing as a Swiss biologist called Wilson Edwards had made statements on Facebook and Twitter that the United States was applying pressure on the World Health Organization scientists who were studying the origins of Covid-19 in an attempt to blame the virus on China. “State media outlets, including CGTN, Shanghai Daily and Global Times, had cited the so-called biologist based on his Facebook profile. “However, the Swiss embassy said in August that the person likely did not exist, as the Facebook account was opened only two weeks prior to its first post and only had three friends. “It added "there was no registry of a Swiss citizen with the name "Wilson Edwards" and no academic articles under the name", and urged Chinese media outlets to take down any mention of him. [...] “It also said that his profile photo also appeared to have been generated using machine-learning capabilities.” In this example an account created on Facebook presented itself as a Swiss biologist to present a narrative related to COVID-19 (T0143.002: Fabricated Persona, T0097.106: Researcher Persona). It used an AI-Generated profile picture to disguise itself (T0145.002: AI-Generated Account Imagery). |
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