Hamilton Monthly Report: September 2022

This report highlights and analyzes key trends and takeaways from data collected on the Hamilton 2.0 Dashboard during the previous month. Unlike ASD at GMF’s weekly Hamilton reports, which analyze the main topics and themes promoted by monitored Russian and Chinese actors and entities, this report focuses on the specific Russian, Chinese, and Iranian accounts, outlets, and pieces of content that received the most engagement during the studied period. The report analyzes data collected on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and state-sponsored websites. A complete list of monitored accounts and outlets and the methodology behind the dashboard can be found on ASD at GMF’s methodology and FAQs page.  

Russia

Twitter Metrics

This section analyzes the top accounts affiliated with and outputs from Russian state media and diplomatic/government Twitter accounts in September 2022. Non-English Tweets are displayed in English using Microsoft’s Translator API. Engagement metrics are determined using Twitter’s public API and are up to date as of early October 2022.

In total, monitored Russian accounts tweeted 79,027 times in September. Those tweets were retweeted and liked, respectively, 915,771 and 2,830,045 times.  

Most Retweeted Accounts

The following charts display the most retweeted Russian state media and Russian diplomatic/government accounts during the past month. Favorites and total tweets are also displayed.

Eight of the ten most influential Russian state media accounts in September had more engagement than they did the month before. RT en Español, the most popular state media account, had its best month since June. Redfish, a left-leaning account, had more retweets in September than in any other month this year. Last month, Redfish had 80,400 retweets. Before that, it averaged only 27,450 retweets a month throughout 2022. Accounts improving their reach messaged in Spanish, English, Russian, and Arabic. RT was the only top ten account to lose a notable amount of month-over-month engagement. From August to September, RT’s retweets dropped 24 percent. However, that amounts to more of a reset than a dramatic collapse. Retweets of RT’s account in September were only slightly below retweets of the account in June and July.

Similarly, seven of the ten most influential Russian diplomatic accounts saw month-over-month gains. Russia’s Embassy in Spain and the diplomat Dmitry Polyanskiy both had more retweets in September than in any month since May. The account for Russia’s Mission to the United Nations had its best month since June. And Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rebounded after performing poorly in August. On the other hand, the account for Russia’s Embassy in Japan had fewer retweets in September than any month since March, which was the first full month after Russia’s war in Ukraine began. In March, that account had 101,600 retweets. In September, it only had 21,800. The always aggressive account for Russia’s Embassy in the United Kingdom also saw a decrease in month-over-month retweets, but it remained the most influential diplomatic account. 

Most Followers Gained

The following charts display the state media and diplomatic/government accounts with the largest change in followers from September 1 to September 30, 2022.

Redfish gained more followers than any other monitored Russian account in September. Its success was built around a viral thread that attacked Queen Elizabeth II after her passing. The Sputnik correspondent Wyatt Reed gained the second most followers in September. Reed was an election observer in the Kremlin-orchestrated referendums held in parts of Ukraine at the end of September, and he regularly tweeted about the legitimacy of the vote. Reed’s most retweeted post, though, claimed that Ukraine had added him to a kill list. RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan also gained a significant number of followers. One of her top posts predicted either Russia’s “imminent victory” or “nuclear war.” The RT en Español-affiliated account Ahí les Va saw its follower growth slow dramatically. In August, Ahí les Va gained 7,280 followers. In September, it added only 1,053.

The ten fastest growing diplomatic accounts added 43 percent more total followers in September than in August. The account for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs gained the most followers last month, adding more than 3,500. The fastest growing diplomatic account from the prior month only gained around 1,500. The state-owned gas firm Gazprom added the second most followers in September. That growth came the same month that explosions damaged the Nord Stream pipelines and magnified the world’s focus on Russian gas. Dmitry Polyanskiy gained more followers in September than any month since May.

Most Mentioned Countries

The following chart displays the countries most mentioned in Tweets during the past month. Special territories and regions (for example, Hong Kong and the EU) are included as individual entities in the country data. The chart aggregates all mentions of a country, including alternative country names, under that country’s official name (for example, mentions of US, USA, U.S., and America are all included in tabulations for the United States of America). 

Once again, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States were the three most mentioned countries by both state media and diplomatic accounts. In state media tweets mentioning Russia, four of the ten most used key phrases were related to Kremlin-staged referendums in Ukraine. Diplomatic accounts mentioned the referendums less, but they did post a considerable number of tweets about a referendum-related speech by President Vladimir Putin. Top tweets mentioning Ukraine from state media and diplomats were largely about the war, and top tweets about the United States played on familiar complaints about Washington’s support for Kyiv.

Most Retweeted Accounts

The following charts display the accounts that have been retweeted most often by accounts monitored on the dashboard during the past month. The first chart displays the monitored accounts most retweeted by other monitored accounts (for example, a diplomatic account retweeted by other diplomatic and state media accounts). The second chart displays the non-monitored accounts most retweeted by monitored accounts (for example, an independent media outlet or unaffiliated individual retweeted by diplomatic and state media accounts). Occasionally, accounts that should be monitored by the dashboard appear in the non-monitored retweet list, either because those accounts are new or because they were not previously identified. Those accounts are subsequently added to the relevant Hamilton account list.

As usual, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) remained the most retweeted account by Russian diplomats and state media. The MFA’s account was retweeted around 700 more times in September than in August. Russia’s Mission to the UN continued to be the second most retweeted account. Diplomats and embassies made up 15 of the 20 most retweeted accounts on the list. The media accounts on that list included Sputnik host George Galloway, who regularly retweets himself, and RT Arabic’s account for breaking news.  

Several newly created state media accounts surfaced on the list of the most retweeted non-monitored accounts. Sepa Más, which shares RT en Español content, was the fourth most retweeted account on the list. At the time of writing, Twitter has not labeled Sepa Más as state media, but YouTube blocked its channel, which is a move consistent with its policies toward Russia state media channels. New accounts for RT India and RT Hindi were also on the list, though RT Hindi wasn’t among the 20 most retweeted accounts pictured above. The creation of those two accounts signals a push by Russian propagandists to build an audience in India. Twitter quickly labeled both accounts as state media. Eva Bartlett was also among the most retweeted accounts. Bartlett is a prominent conspiracy theorist, who served as an election observer in the Moscow-directed referendums in Ukraine.

Most Retweeted Tweets

The following charts display the Tweets made by monitored accounts that have received the most retweets during the previous month. Non-English Tweets are displayed in English using Microsoft’s Translator API.  

The left-leaning account Redfish posted all five of the most retweeted state media tweets in September. Those five tweets attacked Queen Elizabeth after her passing and critiqued British imperialism more generally. The top tweet brought in more than 35,000 retweets, making it the most retweeted post by Russian state media in 2022. The second most retweeted post of 2022 only had 17,400 retweets.

Top posts from Russian diplomats in September played on familiar messaging themes, including complaints about alleged Western neocolonialism and Ukrainian Nazism. The most popular diplomatic post received fewer than 1,800 retweets. That’s the lowest number of retweets for a top monthly diplomatic post this year. The limited popularity of diplomatic tweets in September is odd given the substantial growth that several diplomatic accounts enjoyed that month.

Facebook Metrics

This section provides a summary analysis of Russian state media and diplomatic/government Pages on Facebook during the previous month. Data is sourced from CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned data analysis tool that provides insights into public content posted to Facebook.

Most Interactions

The following chart displays the Russian state media and diplomatic/government Pages on Facebook with the most interactions (reactions, comments, and shares) during the previous month. Though sorted by interactions, the chart also displays the average number of posts per day, page followers, and interaction rates (a calculation of total interactions divided by the number of posts and the number of followers of a Page), all of which are important metrics to contextualize the results.

RT Arabic remained Russia’s most popular state media page even as its reach continued to contract. In September, RT Arabic earned 1.52 million total interactions, which is its lowest monthly total of 2022. RT had the second most total interactions in September, and it increased its month-over-month reach on the platform. Sputnik Serbia remained the third most influential state media page, but it lost month-over-month interactions for the first time since May. Sputnik France earned the eighth most interactions in September. That page went silent for months after the war began and platform restrictions were put in place. It began posting regularly again in August. The Sputnik France Facebook page has a cover photo that says “Sputnik Afrique,” which is the branding that its accounts on other platforms have adopted to target francophone Africa. It’s unclear why Sputnik France hasn’t officially changed its name yet on Facebook. Finally, RT en Español, typically one of the top two Russian state media pages on Facebook, was once again absent from CrowdTangle statistics—inexplicably, the page has regularly been untrackable on CrowdTangle over the past several months.

The average number of total interactions with Russian diplomatic pages on Facebook increased slightly from August to September. Despite that modest increase, though, the average number interactions with diplomatic pages in September was the second lowest since ASD began monitoring monthly engagements in May. The two top accounts saw large month-over-month fluctuations. The total number of interactions with Russia’s Embassy in Bangladesh dropped by 24 percent, while total interactions with Russia’s Embassy in Vietnam more than doubled. The Russian Embassy in Vietnam’s top post relayed Putin’s speech ordering a partial military mobilization.

Pages with the Largest Percentage Growth in Followers

The following chart displays the Russian state media and diplomatic/government pages with the largest percentage growth in followers during the previous month.

For the third month in a row, Ahí les Va grew faster than any other state media page of Facebook. Ahí les Va added more than 20,000 followers in September, which marks the page’s biggest one-month follower increase since it was created. That contrasts with how Ahí les Va’s growth has slowed on Twitter. Overall, on Facebook, 17 of 61 monitored pages gained followers in September. While that means only around a quarter of state media pages gained followers, it also represents the most state media pages to increase their follower counts in a single month since March. 

The growth of Russian diplomatic Facebook Pages was faster in September than the previous month. These pages grew by an average of 1.09 percent in September compared to 0.7 percent in August. After months of being the fastest growing page, Russia’s Embassy in Bangladesh dropped to being the sixth fastest growing page in September. The Embassy in Afghanistan became the fastest growing page last month. That embassy added more than 2,200 followers with only 24 posts.

Most Commented Posts (By Total Interactions)

The following posts received the most comments on Russian state media and Russian diplomatic/government Facebook Pages during the previous month. Posts are segmented by all Russian state media pages, Russian state media pages specifically targeting audiences in the United States, and Russian diplomatic/government pages.

Ahí les Va produced both top posts by Russian state media pages in September. Both of those posts performed far better than its top posts from the previous month. In September, Ahí les Va’s most popular post had more than 410,000 total views. Its top post from August had only 157,000 total views. That increased visibility corresponds with Ahí les Va’s large follower increase in September. 

Russia’s Embassy in Bangladesh sent the most popular diplomatic Facebook post. That post quoted Alexander Dugin’s Telegram channel. Dugin, a hardline Russian nationalists, described Russia as being in a holy war against Ukraine and the West. The post insists that the West has destroyed religion and the “moral dignity of man” while supporting “open satanism and outright racism” in Ukraine. Dugin claims that Russia’s role is “to unite believers of different faiths in this decisive battle.” Russia’s Embassy in Estonia sent the second most popular post, which claimed that Estonia’s energy issues were the result of its domestic politics and “unrestrained adherence to anti-Russian sanctions.”   

China

Twitter Metrics

This section analyzes the top accounts affiliated with and outputs from Chinese state media and diplomatic/government Twitter accounts in September 2022. Non-English Tweets are displayed in English using Microsoft’s Translator API. Engagement metrics are determined using Twitter’s public API and are up to date as of early October 2022.

In total, monitored Chinese accounts tweeted 81,868 times in September. Those Tweets were retweeted and liked, respectively, 535,347 and 1,932,282 times during the month. Compared to August, the number of tweets dropped by 15 percent, the number of retweets was down almost 40 percent, and the number of likes dropped by almost 45 percent. This does not necessarily mean that Chinese diplomatic and state media accounts lost ground in September. Rather, Chinese accounts monitored on Hamilton 2.0 generated an exceptionally high level of activity in August, owing in large part to the coordinated response that accompanied US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan at the beginning of that month. By contrast, September’s numbers were largely comparable to numbers from June or July.

Most Retweeted Accounts

The following charts display the most retweeted Chinese state media and Chinese diplomatic/government accounts during the past month. Favorites and total tweets are also displayed.

While the most influential Chinese diplomatic and state media Twitter accounts remained largely consistent between August and September, they generated significantly less engagement in September. On the state media side, the ultra-nationalist tabloid Global Times dropped from first to fifth position. It published 20 percent fewer tweets and generated less than half the likes and retweets that it did in August. Its former editor-in-chief Hu Xijin dropped out of the top ten entirely. Several other state media outlets like CGTN and China Xinhua News followed a similar downward trend and received proportionately less engagement on a per tweet basis in September than they did in August.

On the diplomatic side, the top ten accounts remained largely unchanged from the previous month, with Zhang Meifang, the consul general in Belfast, topping the chart for the fifth month in a row. The only two new additions to September’s top ten list were the Chinese Embassy to France and the consul general in Barcelona, Zhu Jingyang. Most diplomats tended to post fewer tweets in September than they had the previous month, but the decrease in likes and retweets outpaced the drop in volume. For instance, the consul general in Pakistan (libijian) tweeted about 55 percent less in September, but his account only generated about a tenth of the likes and retweets that it did in August. In the case of Assistant Foreign Minster Hua Chunying, she tweeted slightly more in September but still generated less than half the engagement that she received in September.

As previously mentioned, the overall drop in volume and in engagement was less an indication of Chinese messaging losing steam in September than it was a return to normal after an extraordinarily active month of August.

Most Followers Gained

The following charts display the state media and diplomatic/government accounts with the largest change in followers from September 1 to September 30, 2022. 

In September, the change in followers for Chinese diplomatic and state media Twitter accounts was far smaller than it was in August. On the state media side, Hu Xijin and Chen Weihua, two personalities that frequently play a large role in disseminating Chinese narratives on the platform, saw their follower count grow by 803 and 410 respectively. In August, Hu Xijin gained more than 30,000 new followers, while 3,712 new users flocked to Chen Weihua’s account. People’s Daily’s affiliates China Science and Beautiful China, as well as the Global Times, all dropped out of the top ten after having gained more than 13,000 new followers in August.

The diplomatic side exhibited similar trends, with the accounts that gained the most followers gaining far fewer followers, both in absolute as well as in relative terms, in September as compared to August. The ten fastest growing Chinese diplomatic accounts by numeric change grew in September at less than a quarter the rate as the ten fastest growing accounts in August. The number of new followers gained by the ten diplomatic accounts that gained the most followers in September was the lowest recorded over the past five months.

Most Mentioned Countries

The following chart displays the countries most mentioned in tweets during the past month. Special territories and regions (for example, Hong Kong and the EU) are included as individual entities in the country data. The chart aggregates all mentions of a country, including alternative country names, under that country’s official name (for example, mentions of US, USA, U.S., and America are all included in tabulations for the United States of America).

The relative decline in mentions of China in tweets by Chinese diplomats and state media followed the overall decrease in those accounts’ outputs last month compared to August. China was mentioned about 10 percent less by state media and about 25 percent less by diplomats in September as compared to August.

Nevertheless, the drop in mentions of Taiwan and of the United States was far larger, reflecting a relative calming of tensions surrounding the island. Chinese state media mentioned Taiwan almost ten times less and the United States almost a third less in September than they did in August. Mentions by Chinese diplomats followed a similar trend, with mentions of Taiwan down almost 90 percent and mentions of the United States down by more than 60 percent.

Conversely, mentions of Russia were up significantly in September compared to August. China’s northern neighbor was mentioned about 35 percent more by state media and more than 100 percent more by diplomats. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Samarkand, the energy crisis in Europe, and the ongoing war in Ukraine all contributed to this increase. While Chinese diplomats also mentioned Ukraine about 50 percent more often in September, state media mentioned Ukraine less than in August, and both groups of Chinese accounts mentioned Russia far more than Ukraine.

Finally, mentions of the United Kingdom by Chinese state media were up significantly in September. While the death of Queen Elizabeth II played a role in that increase, top tweets mentioning the United Kingdom included accusations that the country caved to US demands on Huawei, attacks over its colonial past, and amplifications of contrarian rock star Roger Waters’ views on Taiwan.

Most Retweeted Accounts

The following charts display the accounts that have been retweeted most often by accounts monitored on the dashboard during the past month. The first chart displays the monitored accounts most retweeted by other monitored accounts (for example, a diplomatic account retweeted by other diplomatic and state media accounts). The second chart displays the non-monitored accounts most retweeted by monitored accounts (for example, an independent media outlet or unaffiliated individual retweeted by diplomatic and state media accounts). Occasionally, accounts that should be monitored by the dashboard appear in the non-monitored retweet list, either because those accounts are new or were not previously identified. Those accounts are subsequently added to the relevant Hamilton account list.

The 20 Chinese diplomats and state media entities most retweeted by monitored Chinese accounts were largely consistent with the most retweeted Chinese accounts overall. The most retweeted state media accounts were also largely unchanged from previous months.

On the diplomatic side, a significant change was the consul general in Pakistan (libijian) going from being the third most retweeted account in August, just behind Assistant Foreign Minister Hua Chunying, to dropping out of the top 20 entirely in September. For the fourth month running, the consul general in Belfast remained the most retweeted account, most likely owing to the extraordinarily high amount of content she puts out and her tendency to retweet her own posts. Hua Chunying remained the second most retweeted account, but her account was only retweeted about half as much in September as it was in August.

The non-monitored accounts most retweeted by Chinese diplomats and state media accounts in August were largely consistent with findings from previous months. Of the pro-CCP Western validators whose voices are consistently amplified by state media and Chinese officials, New Zealander Andy Boreham was noticeably absent from this top 20 after coming in fifth in August. Irish Member of European Parliament Mick Wallace reclaimed the spot he had occupied in July after Chinese accounts amplified his anti-US takes on the Nord Stream pipeline’s sabotage and NATO expansionism.

Most Retweeted Tweets           

The following charts display the Tweets made by monitored accounts that have received the most retweets during the previous month. Non-English Tweets are displayed in English using Microsoft’s Translator API.

Four of Chinese state media’s five most retweeted tweets in September illustrated largely domestic themes, like the release of a new patriotic movie and celebrations tied to the Mid-Autumn Festival. However, the most engaged with state media tweet of the month was, by far, a CGTN personality’s attack on a Bloomberg UK tweet that he thought belittled India’s economic achievements by comparing them to the United Kingdom’s.

The diplomatic tweets that generated the most engagement in September were all focused on attacking the United States and its democratic allies. The consul general in Belfast (Zhang Meifang) and the former consul general in Beirut (Cao Yi) shared the same meme accusing the United States of sabotaging the Nord Stream pipeline. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokesperson Zhao Lijian criticized US military interventions and denounced the same Bloomberg UK tweet that irritated the CGTN personality. The Chinese Embassy in France delivered a blistering indictment of its host country’s foreign policy.

Facebook Metrics

This section provides a summary analysis of Russian state media and diplomatic/government Pages on Facebook during the previous month. Data is sourced from CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned data analysis tool that provides insights into public content posted to Facebook.

Most Interactions

The following chart displays the Russian state media and diplomatic/government Pages on Facebook with the most interactions (reactions, comments, and shares) during the previous month. Though sorted by interactions, the chart also displays the average number of posts per day, page followers, and interaction rates (a calculation of total interactions divided by the number of posts and the number of followers of a Page), all of which are important metrics to contextualize the results.

Average total interactions with Chinese state media pages on Facebook were down almost 30 percent after a modest ten percent increase between July and August. Overall, almost every outlet that performed well in August saw a decline in interactions in September (declines of 15 percent for CGTN, 35 percent for Xinhua, 45 percent for People’s Daily and Global Times, and 50 percent for China Daily). Interactions with CGTN Arabic content dropped by a further 42 percent after nearly a 30 percent drop between July and August. CGTN Europe and CGTN Español appeared in the top ten for the first time since May.

Chinese diplomatic accounts on Facebook saw a 37 percent drop in total interactions in September, returning to May 2022 levels after five months of strong growth on the platform. However, the ten most interacted with pages remained largely unchanged from August, with only the Chinese Embassy in Malaysia replacing the Chinese Embassy in Romania. The Chinese Consulate in Erbil in Iraq bucked the trend by more than doubling the number of interactions it generated in September. 

Pages with the Largest Percentage Growth in Followers

The following chart displays the Chinese state media and diplomatic/government Pages with the largest percentage growth in followers during the previous month.

In contrast to interaction numbers, Chinese state media pages gained almost twice as many new followers in September compared to August. The People’s Daily overseas edition gained more than 1 million new followers in a month—an increase of more than 34 percent on top of an already sizeable following. This is even more salient given that the outlet did not appear at all in August’s otherwise exceptional month for Chinese messaging on social media. People’s Daily affiliates Beautiful China and China Science each gained more than 200,000 followers, more than any state media page gained in August. State media personality Guan Xin accelerated the growth of her audience, gaining twice as many new followers in September as she did the previous month.

The growth of follower counts for Chinese diplomatic pages remained stable at a relatively high rate of over three percent for the entire network. By way of comparison, that number averaged 0.7 percent between May and July. After a very successful month of August, the Chinese Embassy in Sudan grew at a slower rate in September, gaining only about a seventh as many followers as it had the previous month. On the other hand, the Chinese Consulate General in Erbil accelerated its already extraordinary growth by gaining almost 400,000 new followers. It now has an audience the size of roughly two-thirds of Erbil’s population.

Most Commented Posts (By Total Interactions)

The following posts received the most comments on public Chinese state media and Chinese diplomatic/government Facebook Pages during the previous month. Posts are segmented by all Chinese state media pages, Chinese state media Pages specifically targeting audiences in the United States (for example, CGTN America), and Chinese diplomatic/government Pages.

As has been the case since May, the two most popular posts by Chinese state media in September were clickbait-style videos that had the potential to go viral and capture audience share.

The top two posts from diplomatic/government pages revealed the two sides of China’s digital diplomacy strategy: soft power and outright competition. The Chinese Embassy in Sudan persevered in its soft power strategy, choosing to highlight a skyscraper in its host country’s capital. But the most-shared post, from MFA spokesperson Wang Wenbin, emulated the zero-sum confrontation that is often on display from Chinese diplomats on Twitter by highlighting China’s infrastructure prowess, denigrating US infrastructure, and implicitly pushing back against criticism of the Chinese state’s policies in Xinjiang. While both posts drew about the same number of likes, Wang’s publication generated far more comments. 

YouTube Metrics

This section summarizes the outputs of video content uploaded to CGTN and CGTN America’s YouTube channels. YouTube videos over 20 minutes in length were not included. In total, the dashboard collected 701 videos that garnered 1,851,459 views, 17,405 comments, and 77,172 likes (engagement metrics accurate as of early October).

Most Viewed Videos

The following chart displays the most viewed videos posted to CGTN and CGTN America’s YouTube channels over the previous month. Additional engagement metrics including likes, dislikes, and comments are also provided. Engagement metrics are accurate as of early October. 

 

Title	Outlet	Date	Views	Likes	Dislikes	Comments
Former Unit 731 soldier: I want to apologize to the Chinese people	CGTN	9/18	81,240	1,149		320
China completes roof of world’s 3 largest LNG tanks	CGTN	9/8	71,767	935		104
Untangling the controversy around alleged US theft of Syrian oil – Facts Tell	CGTN	9/9	65,221	4,788		1,203
Col. Richard Black: U.S. foreign policy heading in radical direction	CGTN	9/4	53,167	2,003		381
Col. Richard Black: US created the illusion of Chinese aggression	CGTN	9/6	41,808	1,859		314
Who waged hundreds of America’s wars? – Facts Tell	CGTN	9/9	35,617	2,301		550
Dance of the Flower Goddess – Mid-Autumn Festival at the 2022 Mid-Autumn Festival Gala	CGTN	9/10	32,068	547		81
Protesters in Berlin call for lifting sanctions on Russia as prices soar	CGTN	9/6	29,638	1,302		574
Xi at the SCO: The deep message	CGTN	9/17	26,866	1,134		148
Japan’s trajectory since WWII and the emerging multipolar world order	CGTN	9/2	26,797	1,656		362

The first and last video in this top ten illustrate the negative light in which Chinese state media often portrays Japan. The most viewed video harkened back to the Japanese Imperial Army’s war crimes in World War II, a theme that featured prominently in Chinese disinformation about the origins of the coronavirus. The tenth most viewed piece of content warned about Japan’s “current militarizing trajectory.”

The United States was another recurring target of negative Chinese state media video coverage in September. For instance, a CGTN interview with a former US military official criticizing his country’s foreign policy was broadcast in two different formats within a few days.

Most Mentioned Countries

The following chart displays the countries most mentioned in CGTN and CGTN America videos during the past month. Country data is extracted from titles and excerpts posted to each video on YouTube, meaning that countries that are referenced in a video segment but that do not appear in the description or title will not be included.

Special territories and regions (for example, Hong Kong and the EU) are included as individual entities in the country data. The chart aggregates all mentions of a country, including alternative country names, under that country’s official name (for example, mentions of US, USA, U.S., and America are all included in tabulations for the United States of America).

Mirroring what could be observed on Twitter, Taiwan dropped from the third most mentioned country in August to not even being among the ten most mentioned countries in September. Similarly, mentions of the United States dropped by almost half, month over month.

The United Kingdom featured prominently in both CGTN as well as CGTN America content in September. Many of those videos were related to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, but there were also more critical pieces of content about United Kingdom’s colonial past or questioning Liz Truss’ readiness to be prime minister.

Finally, Kazakhstan’s appearance on this list reflects the importance given Xi Jinping’s official visit to the country and was indicative of the heightened attention Chinese state media devoted to Central Asia during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit that took place in early September.

Top Categories

The following chart displays the news categories covered most often in CGTN and CGTN America YouTube videos during the previous month. Classification of videos is determined by a machine learning algorithm based on a list of pre-determined news categories. Videos can have multiple classifications or no classifications if the confidence score is below a certain threshold.

As has been the case since May, CGTN and CGTN America’s YouTube channels remained predominantly focused on geopolitical issues. In September, climate change was a relatively important topic for CGTN America, being at the heart of more video segments than military and economic issues. CGTN seemed to devote proportionately less attention to health/safety issues than its US-focused affiliate.

Iran

Twitter Metrics

This section analyzes the top accounts affiliated with and outputs from Iranian state media and diplomatic/government Twitter accounts in September 2022. Non-English Tweets are displayed in English using Microsoft’s Translator API. Engagement metrics are determined using Twitter’s public API and are up to date as of early October 2022.

In total, monitored Iranian accounts tweeted 18,284 times in September. Those Tweets were retweeted and liked, respectively, 95,378 and 519,184 times during the month.

Most Retweeted Accounts

The following charts display the most retweeted Iranian state media and Iranian diplomatic/government accounts during the past month. Favorites and total tweets are also displayed.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Press TV had the most engaged with accounts in September. All of the top ten most engaged with tweets came from Khamenei, and none mentioned the protests that began on September 17 with the death of Mahsa Amini in morality police custody. Khamenei made no reference to the young woman’s death or the protests against the regime until October.

Regime-sponsored media accounts did report on the protests, invariably from a pro-government perspective. This often included highlighting police casualties or attacking public figures accused of disloyalty to the regime, including Iranian football coach Ali Karimi. The most retweeted post from a regime-sponsored media was a summary of the United Kingdom’s “criminal” foreign policy during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign released by Press TV.

Four English-language pro-regime propagandists continued to have high engagement: British commentators Chris Williamson and David Miller, Lebanese journalist Marwa Osman, and American podcaster and activist Abbas Muntaqim. Examples of their popular tweets included: Williamson blasting Twitter over his Iran state-affiliated media label; Miller alleging that the protests in Iran are CIA-sponsored; Osman accusing the United States of sabotaging the Nord Stream pipeline; and Muntaqim calling Queen Elizabeth a “genocidal imperialist” and hoping that she “will face an agonizing torment in the next life.”

Most Followers Gained

The following charts display the state media and diplomatic/government accounts with the largest change in followers from September 2 to September 30, 2022.

Account followership was stable during September, with slight growth across all the major accounts currently tracked. Osman and Miller, both hosts on Press TV, had the greatest followership growth among tracked media accounts.

Most Mentioned Countries

The following chart displays the countries most mentioned in Tweets during the past month. Special territories and regions (for example, Hong Kong and the EU) are included as individual entities in the country data. The chart aggregates all mentions of a country, including alternative country names, under that country’s official name (for example, mentions of US, USA, U.S., and America are all included in tabulations for the United States of America). 

As Iran’s military support for Russia has grown more substantial, Russia and the war in Ukraine have remained heavily discussed by pro-Tehran media. Russia also sent a delegation of business leaders to Iran as both countries seek to weather international isolation together. Coverage of Russia is generally positive, and it sometimes repeats Russian propaganda about Putin’s strength at home and Russia’s claimed successes in Ukraine. Iranian media also reported heavily on the death of a teenage girl in Iraq alleged to have been killed by a stray US bullet during a training exercise.

Most Retweeted Accounts

The following charts display the accounts that have been retweeted most often by accounts monitored on the dashboard during the past month. The first chart displays the monitored accounts most retweeted by other monitored accounts (for example, a diplomatic account retweeted by other diplomatic and state media accounts). The second chart displays the non-monitored accounts most retweeted by monitored accounts (for example, an independent media outlet or unaffiliated individual retweeted by diplomatic and state media accounts). Occasionally, accounts that should be monitored by the dashboard appear in the non-monitored retweet list, either because those accounts are new or were not previously identified. Those accounts are subsequently added to the relevant Hamilton account list.

The monitored accounts most retweeted by other monitored accounts included the main government accounts, the supreme leader’s account, and several diplomatic accounts based in Italy.

The non-monitored accounts most retweeted by monitored accounts include several tourism and public diplomacy accounts, as well as the Hella Black Podcast, which is based in Oakland, California, and hosted by Abbas Muntaqim.

Most Retweeted Tweets

The following charts display the Tweets made by monitored accounts that have received the most retweets during the previous month. Non-English Tweets are displayed in English using Microsoft’s Translator API.

The most retweeted tweets from Tehran-backed media accounts mostly came from Press TV and included criticism of Queen Elizabeth for UK foreign policy during her reign, the story of a girl in Iraq allegedly killed by a stray American bullet, and accusations against Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling of spreading fake news.

All of the most retweeted tweets from government accounts came the supreme leader’s Farsi language account. They were heavily critical of the United States, NATO, and “the West.”

Facebook Metrics

Due to restrictions on Iranian state media and diplomatic Pages on Facebook, the few Iranian properties that exist on the platform receive negligible interactions. As a result, we did not conduct analysis of Iran’s Facebook performance. 

YouTube Metrics

The Hamilton dashboard currently does not track any Iranian state media outlets on YouTube.

Explore the Hamilton 2.0 Dashboard. 

The views expressed in GMF publications and commentary are the views of the author alone.