During the summer of 2024, the account “Europe Invasion” has been noticed for large-scale dissemination of xenophobic content on X.
The account has since June grown by roughly 300,000 followers, according to the analysis company Social Bladeand has reached millions by, among other things, spreading false information that Muslim migrants were behind the murders of 14-year-old Emilia in Landskrona and three girls in Southport in Great Britain.
Europe Invasion is completely anonymous – so what do we know about the person or people behind it?
Network of anonymous accounts
SVT can connect Europe Invasion to another account, which previously spread the same type of xenophobic content under the name Daily Reports.
Both are likely run by the same actor.
The accounts have existed for over ten years. History from two databases shows that they have changed name and focus several times, and that both likely shared posts in Turkish from Spring 2023 to February 2024.
Then the accounts’ content was removed and they started publishing xenophobic content in English. Since then, they have shared and amplified each other’s content on hundreds of occasions.
The accounts have probably continued to be operated by a Turkish-speaking actor even after the language change to English.
Probably motivated by money
There are several ways to make money on an X account, if enough engaging content is posted, you can, for example, be shared advertising revenue.
Sohan Dsouza researches disinformation, has previously reviewed the accounts and have had access to SVT’s findings.
– The purpose seems to be to drive engagement with this type of content. This is probably something that can be income-generating, perhaps in combination with an ideological goal, he says.
The findings indicate that the Europe Invasion is at least partly driven by financial reasons.
At the end of August, Daily Reports suddenly deleted all his posts, changed his username to Algorithm Coachand shifted focus from Muslim immigration to tips on how to make an X account profitable.
The accounts’ digital footprints then lead us to a Turkish entrepreneurial couple in Dubai and an alleged advertising agency – see more about this in the video above.
For an overview of how we did the review, click here.