Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/AmericanPropagandaHunter/Archive

Suspected sockpuppets



 * Tools: Editor interaction utility • Interaction Timeline • User compare report Auto-generated every hour.

Central Issue
The account,, on first glance, appears to be a novelty account focused on combating what they see as American. The account, up to this point, has exclusively edited talk pages, both for users and for articles. I noticed an odd series of edits on the talk page of an [IP address User_talk:2A02:8388:6501:F00:2404:36E9:4232:BE81] in which the user appeared to treat the IP as if it were the talk page of their own account. In [the first such edit, edited the talk page of the IP, uncivilly responding to a message left by  and accusing Doanri of committing vandalism on the [[Tiananmen square massacre]] page. This struck me as odd, since Doanri had not left a message on APH's account page, but rather the page of an IP.

The second odd edit involves APH erasing the signature of the IP, and inserting their own. It appears that APH intended to make the comment from their account, rather than that of the IP.

Using an IP account to make good-faith, anonymous edits is perfectly fine. However, per WP:SOCK, "sockpuppetry takes various forms", one of which is "logging out to make problematic edits as an IP address" is prohibited. As I show below, the IP had been used to make problematic edits by engaging in WP:POVPUSH on topics related to China.

AmericanPropagandaHunter: Uncivil Edit History and POV Pushing on Talk Pages
is an account that has exclusively edited talk pages and user talk pages, and has almost exclusively edited pages relating to China and Taiwan. The editor, in their [first https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Taiwan&diff=prev&oldid=1000063059] edit on Talk:Taiwan, accused of engaging in "nothing but personal attacks and bad faith arguments" in their editing (that follows consensus) that holds Taiwan is a country. In the same edit APH goes on to say, "I believe Jargo Nautilus is a state-sponsored propagandist of the US capitalist, war criminal regime".

The author continuously [pushes https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Taiwan&diff=prev&oldid=1000065262] a youtube video by "Nathan Rich" as an RS to defend his view.

In a following edit to the page, the editor uncivilly accuses editors of being a U.S. government agents, writing, "Is there a whole CIA brigade cooperating with Taiwanese editors or something?". The editor appears to have been uncivil on the talk pages of other users, including, in which APH accused the editor of adding "pro-Taiwanese propaganda".

Problematic IP Edit History and POV Pushing
Aside from these edits establishing the connection between the two, the IP has a history of disruptive edits.

On May 5, 2020, the IP made four (1, 2, 3, and 4) which each bear the exact same description, "[c]hanged the term massacre to crackdown because there is no evidence of any state-sanctioned indiscriminate killing ever having taken place. The term "Tiananmen Square Massacre" is likely a propaganda term originating from publications of US anti-communist media." These edits are disruptive, as this appears to be clear evidence of a WP:POVPUSH.

On 12 May 2020, the IP made a disruptive edit to the page The Human Condition (film series). This edit, which was later removed by another IP that discovered that the edit included a false citation.

On 9 June 2020, the IP made a series of consecutive disruptive edits (beginning with this diff on the Xinjiang re-education camps page that were reverted by Doanri, leading to the interaction on the talk page described at the beginning of this report.

Conclusion
The two demonstrate a similar disruptive editing history, focusing heavily on engaging in WP:POVPUSHing in topics involving China and related entities. I am unsure if there are any other IPs that this user has used as a proxy to engage in disruptive editing, though I suspect that there may be. At the very least, the user has engaged in abusive editing on the same topics as the IP listed, and edits made by the user show that the user and the IP are controlled by the same individual. I therefore ask that this investigation be accepted.Mikehawk10 (talk) 01:02, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.''

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * There is almost zero overlap in the dates when the IP and the account edit. This is someone editing as an IP, then creating an account and editing through that. No comment on their editing, but SPI is the wrong venue for anything other than violations of the sockpuppetry policy, which has not happened in this case. Closing  Girth Summit  (blether)  15:39, 6 February 2021 (UTC)