“This is unlike any digital espionage or human influence operations we've seen from adversaries before,” Martin said. “That doesn't mean nation-states aren't behind these actions, anyway. , which is not known from publicly available information.”
inconsistent
POLITICO has so far identified 22 people in British politics who received messages from these numbers and three people who were contacted by “Charlie” on the gay dating app Grindr. A man called police after “Charlie” stole Facebook photos from his account to set up a fake profile.
As more details emerged, shocking victims and experts alike, key elements contradicted a hostile state attack.
First, the testimony of William Wragg. The Tory MP resigned as his whip on Tuesday after admitting giving the phone numbers of “some” colleagues to a man he met at Glyndwr. But neither he nor the Labor staff who sent the explicit photos to 'Abi' say the photos were blackmailed in any other way, such as by being tipped off from within Parliament.
“It would be a little strange for a sophisticated state extortionist to prioritize members of Congress and only ask for the phone numbers of other members, as seems to have happened here,” Martin said.
Second, “Charlie's” behavioral patterns seem to have changed over time. As POLITICO reported on Monday, “Charlie” messaged attendees on Grindr at the Liberal Democratic Party conference in September and on a combination of Grindr and WhatsApp at the Labor Party conference in October.
