Russian-backed Twitter accounts were active during Britain's referendum on EU membership. Ben Stansall/Agence France-Presse
Russian-backed Twitter accounts were active during Britain's referendum on EU membership. Ben Stansall/Agence France-Presse

Russian involvement in Brexit vote revealed by Twitter data analysis



As Vladimir Putin denied again on Saturday that he had any influence on the American presidential election of 2016, the full extent to which Russia interfered in the referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union last year has been revealed in studies of a network of Twitter accounts which posted regularly about Brexit throughout the campaign.

The technology title Wired has carried out research into a cache of posts from 2016 which shows how the Russian-based accounts - linked to the Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency based in St Petersburg - posted about the referendum and European terrorist attacks, and made anti-Muslim slurs and attacks on refugees.

The accounts were identified as being Russian-linked by Twitter when representatives of the social media network provided data to the US congress, which is conducting inquiries into Russian efforts to manipulate the election that brought Republican Donald Trump to power.

The 29 accounts analysed by Wired, which were followed by 268.643 people and which were widely retweeted, expanding their audience, posted mostly about American politics, but also veered into British and European affairs.

One account, @SouthLoneStar, which Twitter confirmed to congress was a Russian account, tweeted to its 16,826 followers in June 2016 that: "I hope UK after #BrexitVote will start to clean their land from muslim invasion!" and "UK voted to leave future European Caliphate! #BrexitVote".

"The account occasionally wades into a European political discussion, which is not what I would expect a domestically-focused Conservative Texan to do under any circumstance," says Jonathon Morgan, chief executive of New Knowledge, which provided the data to Wired. @SouthLoneStar's Twitter biography identifies the account holder as a 'Proud TEXAN and AMERICAN patriot'.

CNN reported about another account, @PeterMagLob, which was ostenisbly run by someone from Germany who had used only German. On the day of the EU referendum, it switched to using English and began spewing out tens of tweets about the vote, tagging them with widely-used hashtags and attacking then prime minister British David Cameron.

Damian Collins, the British MP who is leading parliament’s inquiry into fake news, says the tweets “confirm what we’ve always believed [that Russian-backed accounts attempted to] influence political debate in the UK and also to insight hatred and turn communities against each other.

“I think it shows that Russian-controlled accounts have been politically active in the UK as well as America. This could just be the tip of the iceberg because we’ve only really just started looking and doing a proper detailed study of what accounts linked to Russian organisations have been doing politically.”

Mr Collins has written to Facebook and Twitter asking them to provide data on Russian-involved accounts. The firms will take part in hearings by early-2018 at the latest, Mr Collins hopes.

"I think we have a right to know if organisations in a foreign country, particularly in the case of Russia, are politically active," Mr Collins told Wired. "What is frightening, if you look at some of the studies that have come out of America, is just how many people a well-run campaign can reach at a relatively low cost and how you can target and bombard people with highly partisan messages and fake news."

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Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
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Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy 

Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5

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  • Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
  • National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
  • In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
  • Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
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Based: Gaza
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Day 2

England: 277 & 19-0

West Indies: 154

Roll of honour

Who has won what so far in the West Asia Premiership season?

Western Clubs Champions League - Winners: Abu Dhabi Harlequins; Runners up: Bahrain

Dubai Rugby Sevens - Winners: Dubai Exiles; Runners up: Jebel Ali Dragons

West Asia Premiership - Winners: Jebel Ali Dragons; Runners up: Abu Dhabi Harlequins

UAE Premiership Cup - Winners: Abu Dhabi Harlequins; Runners up: Dubai Exiles

West Asia Cup - Winners: Bahrain; Runners up: Dubai Exiles

West Asia Trophy - Winners: Dubai Hurricanes; Runners up: DSC Eagles

Final West Asia Premiership standings - 1. Jebel Ali Dragons; 2. Abu Dhabi Harlequins; 3. Bahrain; 4. Dubai Exiles; 5. Dubai Hurricanes; 6. DSC Eagles; 7. Abu Dhabi Saracens

Fixture (UAE Premiership final) - Friday, April 13, Al Ain – Dubai Exiles v Abu Dhabi Harlequins

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Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

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How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.