Labor senator Kimberley Kitching’s ‘7000 Russian followers’ under scrutiny by cyber security

Russian-based Twitter followers allegedly linked to Labor MP Kimberley Kitching’s account have been referred to the cyber security agency.

Victorian Senator Kimberley Kitching.

Thousands of Russian-based Twitter followers allegedly linked to the account of Victorian Labor senator and Bill Shorten ally Kimberley Kitching have been referred to the federal government’s cyber security agency for investigation.

A list analysis of Senator Kitching’s 26,000 Twitter followers — including 7000 in which Russian has been identified as the default language — was handed to the Australian Cyber Security Centre yesterday.

The referral follows claims many could be fake “bots” sponsored by the Russian state for possible retweets of propaganda at a later time — similar to what allegedly occurred during recent US and British election campaigns.

Queensland Liberal senator Ian Macdonald tabled Senator Kitching’s follower list for examination by the ACSC while questioning Malcolm Turnbull’s cyber security adviser Alistair McGibbon, appointed last year to head the agency as part of stepping up the fight against any foreign cyber threats.

Senator Macdonald said he was concerned, following an article in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph this month, that many of Senator Kitching’s Twitter followers using Russian as the default language could be “fake bots”.

He said Dan Tehan, the minister formerly responsible for cyber security, had identified Russia last year as behind attacks on “government agencies, businesses and critical infrastructure”.

Senator Macdonald said he was not suggesting Senator Kitching had done anything wrong, but he was aware Twitter followers could be purchased online in bulk. “I could buy 30,000 fake Twitter followers and my account would look much more impressive,” he said.

He said he wanted the ACSC to examine 7000 apparently Russian-linked Twitter followers of Senator Kitching to determine whether general lessons or advice could be provided.

Analysis for the Telegraph by the ExportTweet company found Russian was the default language for 7000, or 27 per cent, of Senator Kitching’s followers.

Further analysis for The Australian by Sasha Tala­vera from Swansea University, who analysed Twitter accounts allegedly used to interfere in Britain’s general election, identified 7063 Kitching Twitter followers, 27.44 per cent.

Senator Kitching tweeted this month that the service analysing her tweets was “dodgy” and cited Twitter statistics to claim 3 per cent of her followers were Russian-linked.

The Australian asked her yesterday whether she stood by the 3 per cent figure, and if it was possible bulk Twitter followers were purchased for her.

She responded by tweeting The Australian’s emailed questions and saying: “Twitter’s own analysis — far more reliable than any other source — shows not many Ruskis follow my tweets after all.”