When tanks meet Twitter: How Sudan's power struggle turned into a social media battlefield

Cairo: When a power struggle between Sudan’s top generals erupted into bloodshed, battle-hardened commanders unleashed every weapon in their arsenal — fighter jets, tanks and also social media. Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo have been “flooding the media with false information”, said Raghdan Orsud of Beam Reports, which investigates disinformation in Sudan. For five million people in Sudan's capital — trapped inside their homes as street fighting has raged, including around the state TV headquarters — Twitter and Facebook quickly became key sources of information. **Also Read: The fight between rival generals for the control of the nation, explained** Both rival forces have since issued “twisted facts” in online media campaigns aimed at deepening the “state of fear”, said Mohamed Suliman, disinformation researcher at Boston’s Northeastern University. The fighting has seen the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — a force tens of thousands strong, formed from the Janjaweed militia that led years of extreme violence in the Darfur region — take on the regular army. While neither side has seemingly seized the advantage so far, in the war of words the paramilitaries are “outpacing” the army’s “old tactics”, Suliman said.

Creating a ‘hero’ Both sides have a history of using social media to push their message in their battles for control. Burhan and Dagalo are former allies who seized power in a 2021 coup but later fell out in a bitter power struggle, which erupted into open conflict on 15 April. [caption id=“attachment_12495762” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The Sudan Armed Forces, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, said Friday the military is committed to a transition to civilian rule, in his first speech since brutal fighting between his forces and the country’s powerful paramilitary began nearly a week ago. AP[/caption] Dagalo — commonly known as Hemedti — is a former camel trader and militia commander accused of leading forces that have committed multiple atrocities. Recently he has sought to portray himself as a statesman. Two days into the fighting, some social media users were taken aback when Dagalo began to release posts in polished English arguing the RSF were battling “radical Islamists” who are “waging a brutal campaign against innocent people”. Many saw proof in those messages that the RSF is “benefiting from expert service and assistance in terms of its online image and messaging”, a specialist on the region told AFP on condition of anonymity. Experts from the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab recorded an increase in the RSF’s long-running disinformation campaign since December 2022. **Also Read: More pyramids than Egypt, 30-year rule of wanted war criminal and more: 5 things to know about Sudan** DFRLab tracked two networks — one with “at least 900 potentially hijacked Twitter accounts” — that were “artificially amplifying” the popularity of RSF posts. Before fighting started, they “portrayed Hemedti as a reformist general who supports the move toward democracy, a competent leader of a powerful paramilitary force and a viable future leader for Sudan,” DFRLab’s Tessa Knight wrote. When fighting began, their tone shifted to brand Dagalo as a “hero fighting to protect Sudan and cleanse the country of traitors”. Fake footage Burhan and the army have also sought to win the information battle, but have been using more “traditional” propaganda, Orsud said. AFP fact-checkers have recorded a flurry of misleading posts praising the army using old footage, including from conflicts in Yemen and Libya and — in at least one instance — a video game.

Other fake videos purported to show wads of cash being seized at Dagalo’s home.

Adding to the information confusion, on Thursday, Twitter stripped accounts of free blue verification ticks, including from Burhan’s official account. With the check marks now available for cash, at least one account falsely purporting to be the RSF bought a blue tick and lied that Daglo had died. The RSF’s account also bought a blue tick, while Daglo’s retained a grey checkmark, signifying that he is a government official. When AFP attempted to reach Twitter for comment, the company replied with an email showing an emoji of a coiled pile of faeces. ‘Systematic campaign’ Social media warfare is nothing new for the RSF. Beam Reports tracked “a systematic campaign to polish the paramilitaries’ image” on Facebook that began in May 2019, after the army’s ouster of dictator Omar al-Bashir. Between 2019 and 2021, Facebook shut down over a thousand Facebook and Instagram accounts linked to the RSF for “coordinated inauthentic behaviour”, including hundreds just a month before Burhan and Dagalo led their coup. Seeking a rebrand from militia commander to statesman, Dagalo has previously employed outside help, including a $6 million (Rs 49.24 crore) deal in May 2019 with a Canadian lobbying firm to engage with leaders including in the United States, Saudi Arabia and Russia. [caption id=“attachment_12495782” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Smoke rises over the horizon as a fire burns after a strike in Khartoum, Sudan. AP[/caption] The following month, in June 2019, RSF gunmen were accused of crushing pro-democracy protests in Khartoum in which 128 people were killed. Foreign links Past investigations have pointed to foreign support, including from the Russian mercenary Wagner group, who experts say is involved in lucrative RSF-controlled gold mines. In 2019 and 2021, Facebook found Sudanese accounts boosting state and Russian media connected to the Internet Research Agency, a group linked to Wagner. In March 2022, the so-called Troika group — Britain, Norway and the United States — said the Wagner group “spreads disinformation on social media” in Sudan. The same month, a Sudanese security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that “Russian experts are involved in communications security and monitoring social networks”.

Khartoum has repeatedly denied Wagner operates in Sudan.

Others look towards the United Arab Emirates. According to the DFRLab, some pages removed by Facebook in 2021 “featured administrators based in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates”. Both countries have been close to the generals, who contributed troops to the Saudi-led coalition fighting Huthi forces in Yemen. Orsud, of Beam Reports, said recent RSF tweets showing the “UAE timezone” led some to allege the accounts were “managed from the UAE”, claims not possible to verify independently. Fighting on the street continues, but in terms of the media war, Orsud said she does not “think either campaign is sophisticated or hard to counter”, as Sudanese civilians take it upon themselves to find the truth. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.