Online trail of the leaked NHS papers

1

The first leak

21 October

u/gregoriator publishes the documents on Reddit but the post has little impact

The post made grammatical errors similar to those made by Secondary Infektion posts

2

Amplification

23 October – German sites

A user called Max Ostermann links to the original Reddit post on three German sites

Same day – Twitter

@gregoriator begins tweeting the Reddit post to senior UK politicians and journalists

Three 'Ostermann' accounts were created and posted only once. Secondary Infektion uses such 'single-use burner accounts' repeatedly on the same three sites

This account posts the same link 51 times in three days – a similar pattern to the Secondary Infektion @Kprydius account

Same day – beforeitsnews

English-language user Wilbur Gregoratior republishes original Reddit post on conspiracy site

Secondary Infektion repeatedly uses the same site

The operation struggles to draw attention to the documents until they suddenly take centre-stage in the election campaign

3

Redacted version

19 November

In a TV debate with Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn reveals redacted documents obtained through an FoI request

After the debate, the pressure group Global Justice Now (which made the FoI request) receives an anonymous email directing it to the unredacted documents

4

Original leak highlighted

27 November

Corbyn presents the full, unredacted documents at a press conference

Investigations trace the documents back to the original u/gregoriator Reddit post

1

The first leak

21 October

u/gregoriator publishes the documents on Reddit but the post has little impact

The post made grammatical errors similar to those made by Secondary Infektion posts

2

Amplification

23 October – German sites

A user called Max Ostermann links to the original Reddit post on three German sites

Same day – Twitter

@gregoriator begins tweeting the Reddit post to senior UK politicians and journalists

Same day – beforeitsnews

English-language user Wilbur Gregoratior republishes original Reddit post on conspiracy site

 

Three 'Ostermann' accounts were created and posted only once. Secondary Infektion uses such 'single-use burner accounts' repeatedly on the same three sites

This account posts the same link 51 times in three days – a similar pattern to the Secondary Infektion @Kprydius account

Secondary Infektion repeatedly uses the same site

The operation struggles to draw attention to the documents until they suddenly take centre-stage in the election campaign

3

Redacted version

19 November

In a TV debate with Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn reveals redacted documents obtained through an FoI request

After the debate, the pressure group Global Justice Now (which made the FoI request) receives an anonymous email directing it to the unredacted documents

4

Original leak highlighted

27 November

Corbyn presents the full, unredacted documents at a press conference

Investigations trace the documents back to the original u/gregoriator Reddit post