An online network of bot-like accounts, media sites and X users has spread disinformation in support of a sanctioned mining tycoon and attacked civil society groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a new investigation has found.
Israeli businessman Dan Gertler was sanctioned by the US in 2017 for amassing a fortune through “hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of opaque and corrupt mining and oil deals in the DRC”.
At the time, the US Treasury said the Central African country had “lost over $1.36bn in revenues from the underpricing of mining assets that were sold to offshore companies linked to Gertler”. The total lost revenue could reach $3.7bn if the DRC’s government fails to review its agreements with companies linked to Gertler, according to a 2021 report by Congolese civil society coalition Le Congo N’est Pas à Vendre (The Congo Is Not For Sale).
