Global Witness exposes a coordinated wave of bot-like accounts and deceptive news sites trying to whitewash a sanctioned mining tycoon, undermining sanctions and DRC’s anti-corruption efforts

Global Witness finds that at least 40 social-media accounts created in February 2025, along with multiple Congolese news websites, propagated nearly identical messages claiming that a recent arbitration “exonerated” Gertler — despite the arbitration being a private commercial dispute unrelated to the systemic corruption allegations that led to his 2017 U.S. sanctions. The report warns that this coordinated amplification risks whitewashing a sanctioned actor’s reputation, undermining sanctions integrity…