Senegalese intel agency probes foreign influence on March riots

摘要

Two studies submitted last month to the head of the Délégation Nationale du Renseignement (DNR) intelligence agency, General Cheikh Sène, examine online mobilisation around the riots over Ousmane Sonko's arrest. Thousands of Twitter accounts carrying the hashtag #FreeSenegal accompanied, and sometimes preceded, the mobilisation of protesters. Online calls for demonstrations began as soon Sonko was arrested in early March. The first expressions of outrage on social media were spontaneous and viral, but they quickly gave way to a wave of well-coordinated and often automatically managed accounts.