Operation Red Card
An Indian PR firm created inauthentic accounts and used coordinated behavior to post anti-Saudi, anti-Emirati, pro-Qatar, and football-related content.
This report examines a campaign attributed by Facebook to an Indian digital marketing firm, aRep Global, that focused on political issues throughout the Gulf region, alongside topical issues in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Western Europe, and the world of professional football. Its content covered a range of themes yet showed a consistent current of hostility toward the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, praise for Qatar’s rulers, and some hostility toward Iran. We have dubbed this campaign “Operation Red Card.”
Ben Nimmo
Head of Investigations
Ben Nimmo was Head of Investigations at Graphika, where he led an expert team of OSINT investigators in detecting, identifying and analyzing inauthentic behavior and information operations online. He specializes in analyzing patterns of online disinformation and influence operations across varying platforms and geographical regions. He is now the Principal Investigator, Intelligence & Investigations at OpenAI.
Camille François
Chief Innovation Officer
Camille François works on cyber conflict and digital rights online. She was the Chief Innovation Officer at Graphika, where she led the company’s work to detect and mitigate disinformation, media manipulation and harassment.
C. Shawn Eib
Analyst
L. Tamora
Analyst
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The full report includes the complete network graph maps, raw attribution indicators, cross-platform topology analysis, and the full takedown timeline with platform-level data.
- Full network graph visualizations
- Attribution indicators with confidence scores
- Raw behavioral modeling data
- Takedown coordination timeline
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