Timothy Graham

In the West, journalists receive the Pulitzer award for truth-telling.
In Russia, there is also a 9mm award - a 9mm bullet in the forehead for telling the truth.

Anna Politkovskaya was one of the many journalists that the Kremlin regime assasinated for telling the truth.

Take care BlindiRL!

Today in CCN111 we played Social Media Operations Manager! Students discussed the ethics of the influence industry and social media analytics

Play for free on @itch.io: timothyjgraham.itch.io/social-media...

#indiegames #disinformation

"We're going to create superintelligence" How about making outlook search work first. How about that

CopyCop Deepens Its Playbook with New Websites and Targets CopyCop expands Russian influence ops with 300+ fake websites targeting the US, France, Canada & more—using AI, deepfakes, and GRU-backed infrastructure.

Storm 1516 -- an influence operation attributed to Russia -- is expanding its target audiences

www.recordedfuture.com/research/cop...

Social Media Manager by Timothy Graham A roguelike management sim about social media manipulation and corporate

Big update to Social Media Operations Manager!

Play or download for free: timothyjgraham.itch.io/social-media...

I'd love to hear any feedback or ideas

#roguelike #indiegames #indiedev

This better not be the soft launch of presidential murders

Calling all social media researchers, if you have access to the TikTok research API or are doing research on TikTok via a browser plugin, you will soon be able to collect and analyze TikTok data via our research tool, @communalytic.org.

No coding required. #DSA40 #CSS #ComSky #AcademicSky

From 1939-1945 German officers also listened to speeches from civilians about how the laws of war didn’t apply to them. And then they participated in the Holocaust, starved millions of prisoners of war, destroyed villages and cities, and were defeated.

The statistic that history will remember will be the USAID death toll, after this man’s actions in 2025

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Tech companies consider giving up efforts to combat misinformation online in Australia Critics say misinformation is a big problem that social media platforms profit from

Latest 2c from me in this article from @joshtaylor.bsky.social on the enduring woes of combatting misinformation when the term has been become so deeply politicised

www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

If gravity were politicised, Grok would be telling people they can fly

A Russian drone strike killed a whole family in Sumy region of Ukraine last night: mom, dad and kids aged 4 and 6.

Deepest condolences. This is beyond horrible.

Trump turns Biden’s TikTok law into a big win Biden officials said selling TikTok would safeguard it from political influence. Now, critics of a spinoff deal to Trump allies say that aim could be subverted.

Emma Briant, a Notre Dame professor who studies propaganda, says President Trump’s deep involvement in TikTok raises the risk he's “cherry-picking the board, making deals with his buddies … and creating a media monopoly to keep himself in power.”
https://wapo.st/3KhxPww

Experimenting with genetic algorithms to optimise games

This bot plays Social Media Manager 1000x faster than a human to try and find the best strategy. Hopefully this will help to balance the game and make it more fun. #gamedev #indiedev

timothyjgraham.itch.io/social-media...

High praise - thx Ehsan! Is it good? I’ve been working so closely on it I’ve lost track of the fun aspect. It’s just a prototype but hoping to do a Steam release

Hey Matt! Thank you - it’s a bit of experimental work but mostly for fun :-). It’s basically just a critique of for-hire disinformation and “PR”. I hope to expand it and use it as an educational tool though. Might be spinning something up with @essideh.com. Keen to hear what you think!

To achieve this I rebuilt an entire network visualization program inside the game. It implements the Force Atlas 2 layout algorithm and lets you see your actions unfold in real time

Bug fixes are done ✅

The shop is loaded up with new rare upgrades to expand your network of followers and trigger massive engagement farming cascades

For educational purposes, I built an influence campaign simulator game. Check it out via the link below! It’s free and you can play in the browser.

Crackers

Update: players are reporting a bug in the shop on day 6 that freezes the game. Fix coming later today - sorry!

#gamedev #indiegames

Social Media Manager by Timothy Graham A roguelike management sim about social media manipulation and corporate

Excited to announce my first ever published game, for the @halcyonfrequency.bsky.social gamejam.

”Social Media Manager", a shady deskjob simulator with #roguelike elements. I hope you enjoy it and would love to hear any feedback

#indiegames #indiedev

timothyjgraham.itch.io/social-media...

Literally the authoritarian playbook:
1. Call your opponents terrorists.
2. Deploy state power against them.

There's nothing subtle or confusing or complex about what's happening. The *outcome* is uncertain but the authoritarianism is right out in the open.

Russian fascism: the six principles of Putin’s nationalist ideology Putin’s ideological propaganda leans heavily on Russian history

For anyone interested in Putin’s fascism, I recommend this article as a good starting point and not too long a read: theconversation.com/russian-fasc...

Taking a moment this morning to honour the people of Ukraine in their fight against fascism. Slava Ukraini

George Orwell on Hitler

“Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”

- Timothy Snyder