What we learned from Facebook’s takedown of Safari Club International-funded disinformation campaigns
Basically, I was right.
I first reported on American nonprofit organizations knowingly pushing deceitful pro-trophy hunting propaganda to influence social media users and conservation policies back in June. How I figured it out before Facebook is anyone’s guess. But the good news is that Facebook finally shut down the pro-trophy hunting disinformation campaigns after their investigation confirmed inauthentic behavior was rampant.
Facebook’s press release on the takedown can be found here. The official report from the Stanford Internet Observatory can be found here.
Here is what we already knew about the disinformation campaigns:
Inclusive Conservation Group conducted disinformation campaigns on social media promoting trophy hunting as a conservation tool.
ICG was created in 2016 as a related entity of Shikar-Safari Club International.
Safari Club International Foundation and Shikar-Safari Club International Foundation were ICG’s primary donors.
Shikar-SCIF donated more money to ICG than they donated to any other organization other than the NRA ($648,000 between 2016-2018). We can expect the amount donated to rise once tax forms for years 2019 and 2020 are available.
SCIF donated more money to ICG than they donated to any other organization in recent years ($523,000 between 2016-2017). We can expect the amount donated to rise once tax forms for years 2018, 2019, and 2020 are available.
ICG submitted a grant request to Safari Club International Foundation in 2019 detailing how they conduct information warfare on social media.
ICG stated that they took words from the SCI website and presented them through an African voice.
ICG listed their motto, “shape, inform, manipulate, mislead, expose, diminish, promote, deceive, coerce, deter, mobilize, convince.”
ICG also asserted that “under the banner of irregular warfare,” they had been “conducting information operations.”
The two main vehicles for ICG’s disinformation campaigns were social media pages called Let Africa Live and Proud American Hunter.
Let Africa Live was primarily used to promote the idea that Africans wanted trophy hunting and wildlife trade while western elites were trying to colonize them and keep them in poverty.
Let Africa Live was used to influence Botswana’s elite decisionmakers and rural communities to reverse a prior elephant trophy hunting moratorium.
Proud America Hunter was more political, pushing propaganda that included anti-liberal, anti-abortion, anti-immigrant, anti-vegan, climate change denial, and pro-gun sentiments.
There were also dozens of fake individual social media accounts that served no purpose other than commenting on and promoting ICG content to manipulate platform algorithms.
Here are some of the most startling revelations since the takedown:
Rally Forge, LLC was the social media consultation organization working on behalf of Inclusive Conservation Group and Turning Point Action.
Turning Point Action is a subsidiary of Turning Point USA, a pro-Trump extremist group that has been accused of promoting white supremacy and pushing climate change denial.
Rally Forge was banned from Facebook and ICG’s pages and profiles were removed from the platform.
The pro-trophy hunting propaganda primarily targeted the United States as well as Botswana and Kenya. This was a smart way to efficiently combat anti-trophy hunting sentiments and help reverse trophy hunting bans. There was little to gain by targeting nations that already have a long history of utilizing trophy hunting, even if it was failing as a conservation tool.
Fake accounts tied to politics were repurposed for pro-hunting astroturf conversations when political conversations died down. Prior to switching to promoting hunting, the accounts were split between liberal and conservation comments, possibly to create an illusion of bipartisan support for hunting.
Proud American Hunter and Let Africa Live both purchased political ads on Facebook to promote their disinformation campaigns to wider audiences.
Proud American Hunter’s most engaging posts were anti-vegan, pro-gun, and anti-Joe Biden.
Let Africa Live’s most engaging posts were all anti-China and claimed COVID-19 was a global campaign intended to limit wildlife consumption and hurt rural African communities.
A large portion of the fake Twitter accounts followed anti-trophy hunting groups like the Humane Society, Born Free Foundation, and Defenders of Wildlife.
The fake Twitter accounts primarily targeted the groups Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, Xpose Trophy Hunting, PETA, Center for Biological Diversity, Born Free USA, and African Wildlife Foundation.