Bot attacks on Cyprus journalists ‘have famous perpetrator’

The recent slew of bot attacks on social media accounts belonging to journalists and news outlets in Cyprus has “a famous perpetrator”, Turkish Cypriot opposition political party CTP representative Sami Ozuslu said on Tuesday.

He spoke about the bot attacks during an address to the Turkish Cypriot legislature, and in doing so made reference to the murder of journalist Kutlu Adali, who was killed in 1996 after reporting that Turkish soldiers had looted abandoned Greek Cypriot property and hidden the loot inside Famagusta’s St Barnabus monastery.

“When Kutlu Adali was killed, the perpetrator was said to be unknown, but every year, the following expression is used at his grave: ‘the perpetrator is not unknown, the perpetrator is famous’. The fascist attacks on social media we are experiencing now must also have a famous perpetrator,” he said.

Earlier in his speech, he had pushed back against those who had referred to the attacks as “cyber-attacks”, saying that “cyber-attacks are something else”, and adding, “the name I put forward for this is digital states of fascism”.

He said that the attacks “especially targeted media organisations which spread news content on social media”, and that this “led to a loss of advertising revenue, a loss of access, and damage to the public’s right to receive news”, 

Then, he called on the proprietors of social media platforms to take action to deal with the matter, saying that “the attacks can easily be followed through digital tracking”.

“These platforms should investigate the source of organised reporting of Turkish Cypriot journalists, politicians, trade unionists, and media organisations. Oh, [Mark] Zuckerberg, take a look as the owner of your huge Meta company. The names of two Indian companies have been published so far. One is Aiplex and the other is Markscan,” he said.

Aiplex Software Private Ltd had been linked to the mass reporting and taking down of social media posts published by newspaper Yeniduzen and news websites including Kibris Postasi and Bugun Kibris, while Markscan was first employed to remove content posted by the Cyprus Mail and has since targeted other journalists.

Ozuslu said that Meta would have at its disposal access to the identity of the individual or organisation which enlisted the help of both Aiplex and Markscan, and as such called on Zuckerberg to act.

“They are targeting the media of this country with bad intentions by using the global social media companies you founded,” he said, before going on to add that it has been reported that the company charge as much as US$50,000 per target account to remove content. 

Numerous news outlets, including the Cyprus Mail, have had their social media accounts attacked by bots overloading them with bogus copyright infringement claims, causing their content to be deleted. 

Yeniduzen had reported that content using keywords such as “Juju” – the nickname of Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel’s longtime close personal associate Fatma Unal – as well as “cyber-attack”, and words related to the ongoing strikes and protests in the north have been targeted. 

As such, many now believe that Ustel and Unal may be linked to the attacks. However, Unal denied any link to the removals, telling Bugun Kibris that “I have not made such an attempt, and I have not used any intermediaries”.