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goldenpinof · 6 months ago

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Facebook ADs mini-essay by me <3 (excuse any typos and grammar mistakes, please. corrections are welcome.)

★ a huge shout out to Emma @dnpbeats for sending me a link to Phil's Facebook ad library. now we have a lot to go through ★

you can see that Phil's Facebook is linked with Dan's Instagram. Dan's, on the other hand, isn't.

note: filter goes from 2018 to 2024.

Terrible Influence (TI) youtube promo video "Finally Revealing Our Secret" is running as a bought ad in: Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, France, Poland (if you search for it, the ad appears but it has reached just a few people in France and Poland; the locations of the ads are in Germany). we can see who paid for these ads (Bill Bailey)*.

no TI youtube promo video as an ad in countries with actual shows: Belgium (on a screenshot as an example), Netherlands, Iceland.

note: you can select any country and see if this ad reached anyone there. countries above are those that i selected because they either have shows or are very close to the ones with shows (France). i also selected Latvia - it didn't have this specific ad. it did have WAD premiere ads because WAD was targetting worldwide (spoilers, i guess).

nothing at all in the UK. it doesn't mean the ads are not running in the UK. i personally didn't see any, but if they are out there, they are probably bought by and run via a promoter (AEG; didn't see in their library) or someone else.

local TI promo posts are running as bought ads in the USA and Canada (screenshots below). Tysons as an example. there's no information about who paid for the ads.

local TI promo posts are running as bought ads in Australia and New Zealand. there's no information about who paid for the ads. but the ads are running on more platforms than in the USA, Canada and Europe.

local TI promo posts are running as bought ads in some European countries (more on that later).

on some screenshots you can see that Phil also has ads for WAD premiere and preshow (only in Europe, Canada and Australia/NZ). in EU we can also see who paid for them (Hangtime)*.

* i don't know how true this information is. i personally don't know about any connections between Dan and Phil and these people/companies. spoilers: local TI promo posts are paid for by A Comic Soul (in the EU), and in this case, we do know the connection. but more info about local TI promo posts will be in the reblog (because Tumblr limits, ya!)

shout out to Dan for having 0 ads in his Facebook library.

Europe:

USA and Canada:

Australia and New Zealand:

WAD premiere:

#ti promo #ti.usa #ti.europe #brother in christ i'm not tagging each us city. but all of them are there. and all canadians as well #facebook #ti.canada #ti.australia #ti.new zealand #wad premiere

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bolodoyball · 1 year ago

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What is your opinion of Starfleet Command?

Starfleet Command is a central authority within the United Federation of Planets, overseeing the operations of Starfleet, which is the organization responsible for space exploration, scientific research, and defense. Throughout the various Star Trek series and movies, Starfleet Command is portrayed as an institution dedicated to promoting peace, understanding, and cooperation among different…

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#international world india AntipoloCity travel game fashionblogger dream worldwide gameday attraction movies movie captain tv #usa canada usa europe australia

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swift13s · 17 days ago

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Hi everyone I made a Taylor swift Spotify wrapped using @billboard and @google

Here you go , please use credit if you wanna share to a group ;

🎉 Taylor Swift 2024 Wrapped 🎉

Hey, Swiftie! 2024 unforgettable year for Taylor Swift. Let’s take a look back at your most iconic moments, streams, and chart dominance.

📈 2024 Stats & Achievements

Global Streams: Over 40 billion streams across all platforms, solidifying Taylor as one of the most-streamed artists of the year.

Top 2 Most-Streamed Tracks:

"Cruel Summer (The 2023 Version)" – 5.2 billion streams

"Anti-Hero" – 4.8 billion streams

Album Streams:

"Midnights (Deluxe Edition)" – 18 billion streams (new deluxe versions made it the most streamed album of the year)

"1989 (Taylor's Version)" – 14 billion streams, topping charts worldwide after the re-release.

"Red (Taylor's Version)" – 12.3 billion streams (Still holding on strong!)

🏆 Chart Achievements & Awards

Billboard 200: "Midnights" was the #1 album for 11 weeks.

Billboard Hot 100:

"Cruel Summer" entered the Top 10 for the first time in 2024, landing at #5.

"Anti-Hero" held the #1 spot for 6 weeks, becoming one of the longest-running hits of the year.

Grammys 2024:

Album of the Year – "Midnights (Deluxe Edition)"

Song of the Year – "Anti-Hero"

Best Pop Vocal Album – "1989 (Taylor's Version)"

American Music Awards:

Artist of the Year

Favorite Pop Album – "1989 (Taylor's Version)"

🌍 International Dominance

Top 10 Countries where you had the most streams:

USA 🇺🇸

UK 🇬🇧

Australia 🇦🇺

Canada 🇨🇦

Japan 🇯🇵

Brazil 🇧🇷

South Korea 🇰🇷

Germany 🇩🇪

Mexico 🇲🇽

France 🇫🇷

Taylor's influence crossed continents in 2024, as she continued to top charts from Asia to Latin America, while her Eras Tour sold out stadiums in over 30 countries.

🎤 Tours & Performances

The Eras Tour 2024 was a worldwide phenomenon, selling over 10 million tickets and grossing over $1.3 billion.

Iconic performances included the "Midnight Show" at the MetLife Stadium and "1989 Revisited" at the O2 Arena in London, both becoming viral sensations on social media.

YouTube Views: Her concert film, "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" reached 2 billion views, with fans reminiscing about every unforgettable moment.

🔮 What’s next?

2025 is already shaping up to be even bigger, with rumors of a new album, more re-records, and continued chart domination. Taylor’s reaching new heights, and you’ll be along for every step of the journey!

Please note the tortured poets department 🏬 is not added to a lot of these statistics due to most award shows having taken place before the release :)

Enjoy

Xoxoxox fangirl news

Edit : fixed the spelling error thx guys 🤍

#taylor swift #pop culture #evermore #ttpd era #midnights #swifties #the tortured poets department #folklore #ts11 #spotify

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planet-gay-comic · 8 months ago

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Historical and Modern Perspectives on Same-Sex Unions

Same-Sex Unions in Antiquity Even in antiquity, there were cultures that recognized same-sex relationships in various forms. Although formal marriages between same-sex partners are rarely documented, numerous examples of love unions and symbolic partnerships exist.

Ancient Greece: In Greek culture, same-sex relationships, particularly between men, were widespread and often socially accepted. These relationships, known as pederasty, had an educational character, where an older man (the Erastes) took a younger man (the Eromenos) under his wing. These connections were often marked by love and affection and played an important role in the education and social life of Greek cities.

Rome: Hadrian, who ruled from 117 to 138 AD, is an example of a same-sex relationship in Rome. Hadrian had a famous relationship with Antinous, a young Greek man. This relationship was so significant that Hadrian honored Antinous's memory in an extraordinary way after his death in 130 AD.

Mesopotamia: In ancient Mesopotamian cultures, such as the Sumerians and Assyrians, there is evidence of the acceptance of same-sex relationships. Texts and inscriptions suggest that such relationships were part of the social fabric, although formal marriages are not documented.

India: In ancient India, there are also indications of the acceptance of same-sex relationships. In Hindu mythology, there are stories of gods and heroes in same-sex relationships. This spiritual and cultural acceptance shows that such unions were recognized in certain contexts.

Indigenous Cultures of North America: Many indigenous cultures in North America had the concept of "Two-Spirit" individuals, who possessed both male and female qualities. Such individuals could assume ceremonial roles and enter into same-sex partnerships that were considered spiritually and socially acceptable.

Modern Developments: Marriage for All In modern times, the social and legal recognition of same-sex partnerships has significantly improved. Many countries have enacted laws granting same-sex couples the right to marry and the associated rights and obligations.

Switzerland: On July 1, 2022, Switzerland's "Marriage for All" law came into effect, granting same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual couples. This was the result of a referendum in September 2021, where the Swiss population overwhelmingly voted in favor of legalization.

Worldwide: In addition to Switzerland, many other countries have previously legalized marriage for same-sex couples, including:

Netherlands (2001): The Netherlands was the first country in the world to introduce same-sex marriage. Belgium (2003): Belgium followed shortly after the Netherlands and legalized same-sex marriage. Spain (2005): Spain was one of the first major European countries to allow same-sex marriage. Canada (2005): Canada legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. South Africa (2006): South Africa became the first country in Africa to permit same-sex marriage. Norway (2009), Sweden (2009), Portugal (2010), Iceland (2010), Argentina (2010), Denmark (2012), Uruguay (2013), New Zealand (2013), France (2013), Brazil (2013), England and Wales (2014), Luxembourg (2015), Ireland (2015), USA (2015), Colombia (2016), Finland (2017), Germany (2017), Australia (2017), Austria (2019), Taiwan (2019), Costa Rica (2020). The legalization of same-sex marriage in these countries was often the result of decades of activism and social change, leading to greater acceptance and legal equality.

From antiquity to the present, same-sex unions and partnerships have a long and often complex history. While symbolic marriages and stable partnerships existed in antiquity, the legal and social recognition of same-sex marriages is an achievement of modern times. Today, many countries, including Switzerland, have introduced "Marriage for All," taking a significant step toward equality and acceptance.

Text supported by GBT-4o Image generated with SD1.5, overworked with manual inpainting and composing

#LGBTQ #SameSex #Marriage #LoveIsLove #Equality #Pride #Greece #Rome #gayart #queer #nonbinary #gaywedding

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elguritch-art · 7 months ago

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300 Twitter Followers Raffle!

I've hit 300 followers on Twitter/X today, and I'm hosting a raffle for it!

Folks can enter either on Twitter, or here on Tumblr by doing the exact same steps:

Reblog

If I end up with 350 followers on Twitter/X before the raffle ends, I'll add a 2nd place winner and add a third prize option (Rendered Image) for the 1st place winner!!

Prizes Below:

Option 1: Custom Reference Sheet

Comes With:

1 Fullbody

Color Palette

Eye Reference

3 Small Add-Ons (Alt. Eye views, teeth reference, weapon reference, headshots, ect.)

Can be of an existing OC you want a lovely new sheet for, or a totally brand new custom OC design by myself! (Visual references of some kind required (Pinterest moodboards count!))

Option 2: 12x18" Rainbow Monster Lustre Art Print

One 12"x18" Rainbow Monster Art Print of your choice, shipped to your location free of charge!

Locations I can ship to:

USA

Europe

EFTA States

Canada

Australia/New Zeland

Japan

Brazil

Worldwide

#my art #digital art #artists on tumblr #art raffle #raffle #art share #monster #vampire

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alarajrogers · 1 year ago

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This is long. I've been percolating on it a while.

As usual, when I see a discussion going on that has no nuance, where two sides have been staked out and any suggestion that one side has a point is taken as full support for the other side and everything they do... I feel compelled to try to point out the nuances. This is likely to get me a lot of nastygrams in response, possibly from both sides, but I can't take the lack of nuance any longer.

First, let's begin with this. The government of Israel is committing atrocities. Full stop. There is no way to minimize this. Nothing the civilian population of Palestine has done or could ever do would justify the Israeli government's response here. Israel, as a state, are unmitigated bad guys in this situation. Just like my country, the USA, were unmitigated bad guys for invading Iraq on flimsy pretenses and committing atrocities in the process. A nation doing terrible things doesn't mean the people of that nation are terrible. I pointed this out when the government of Russia chose to invade Ukraine. In democracies, like the US and Israel, the people bear more responsibility than in dictatorships, but as a person who protested the Iraq War and tried to vote out the president responsible for it, I am deeply, deeply uncomfortable with the idea that all the citizens of a democracy are responsible for the actions of its government.

And I am flat out appalled by the notion that non-citizens with no vote should be held responsible; treating Jews as synonymous with the current Israeli government and its awful decisions is like the US rounding up Japanese-Americans and putting them in camps because the Japanese government attacked the US. It was wrong then, it's wrong now, and if you come from an English-speaking country and you're white, 90% chance you come from a country that committed similar atrocities in the course of expanding an empire or colonizing land that didn't belong to it. (I think the Irish, Scottish and Welsh are exceptions; I do not know of any others.)

If you blame Jews worldwide for the actions of Israel, you are a shithead, and if you come from the US, England, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, you are also a hypocritical shithead. France and Germany and Spain, yes, still a hypocritical shithead. Was your nation ever a colonial power? Then if you blame Jews worldwide for Israel's actions, you are a hypocritical shithead.

More to say, possibly more inflammatory, under the cut.

I have seen people I follow saying things like "We should treat Zionists in leftist spaces the way we treat TERFs, they should have no place with us." A lot of "denounce Zionism." A lot of "Zionism is evil."

I have also seen, on the flip side, the disgusting behavior of governments and institutions punishing people for making the argument that Israel should not be murdering Palestinian civilians. This is awful, and inhumane. The people of Palestine have done nothing to deserve this; the existence of terrorists committing atrocities in their name does not justify a civilian population being murdered. As an American, I feel very strongly that I would like to not be murdered for what the CIA did in South America, okay? And frankly, all Americans and anyone from any kind of colonial power should feel the same way, so this behavior where our governments and institutions give Israel free reign to murder civilians is despicable.

But Zionism does not mean "supporting every horrible thing Israel ever did." It means the belief that Jews need and deserve a homeland of their own, that the best place for that homeland is Israel, and as a result Israel has the right to self defense. (Self defense, y'all, is not a euphemism for "murder civilians." In fact murdering civilians usually is antithetical to self defense, because it radicalizes the civilian population against you. You don't fight terrorists with bombs unless your goal is to make more terrorists. Which I actually think Netanyahu's goal is, because he is a right wing war hawk who wants an excuse to commit atrocities against Palestine. That's not good for Israel, but it's good for a right wing war hawk who wants to stay in power.)

I've seen a lot of arguments that Israel are colonizers. Technically it's true but that word has certain baggage due to the motives and behavior of 90% of the world's colonizers. Specifically, when white imperialists marched in to territories occupied by other people, took them over, and killed, enslaved, drove off or ruled over the people who were already there:

The motive was greed, folks. Want, take, have. We're allowed to have everything because we're white. Nothing about "we need this or people will keep killing us."

It wasn't territory they had ever held. Territory associated with them in the lore of the world's biggest religions? Nope. It wasn't territory they'd ever had at all.

They did the colonizing themselves. A third party didn't colonize and then hand it over to them.

Israel's situation is different for multiple reasons.

For 2000 years, Jews have not been treated as full and equal citizens of anywhere they tried to live; those 2000 years have contained so many instances of Jews being murdered en masse, or driven out and all their stuff stolen, I don't think we have an accurate count of how many times it happened.

Anywhere that Jews were treated as full and equal citizens for any period of time, a change in government or in the circumstances of their neighbors could reverse this. Most Jewish citizens of Germany thought of themselves as Germans first, and thrived in Germany, until Hitler stirred up the currents of anti-semitism that apparantly always are present under the surface of a European or European-based society.

It is very easy to argue that the reason for this is that Jews were driven out of their own homeland, and their efforts to keep their own culture during the diaspora made them mistrusted strangers everywhere. Therefore, it's also very easy to argue that the solution is for them to have a homeland again.

This was why Zionists in the 40's were successfully able to get Britain to cede them Palestine. There are very good arguments from the evidence of history that Jews do in fact need a homeland of their own, because anywhere else they live may spontaneously decide to murder them for no reason, because it has been happening for 2000 years and has no evidence of stopping.

Of course, there's a huge problem. Britain didn't hand over part of Britain. Nobody handed over Rome, which forced the Jews out of their homeland originally, or Germany, which had just committed the Holocaust. (These would not have gone well either.) They handed over a territory full of people who had done nothing to the Jews, had nothing to do with the Holocaust, and were not consulted or asked for permission.

Jews sought an ethno-state where Jewish people would be treated as more equal than non-Jews because they're an extreme minority worldwide, and anywhere where they allowed non-Jewish people to become full citizens anytime they wanted, would eventually fill up with enough gentiles that it would again become dangerous to be Jews there. Palestinians were, rightfully, pissed off that they were being forced off their land. So they fought back, and Israel retaliated, and that is how this whole poisonous dynamic began.

Does Israel have a right to the land they were ceded? That is unfortunately the wrong question. After Europe and other places randomly murdered Jews for being Jewish for 2000 years, it becomes really hard to argue against the necessity of a Jewish homeland, somewhere, if you have any empathy for Jewish people at all. Where should that be? Well, there is no uninhabited land on Earth that's suitable for habitation; anywhere would have required throwing people off their land.

This may be colonizing, but it's different colonizing than what white people did. It was done for survival, in the face of 2000 years of threats, and it was done by giving them back land they'd lost 2000 years ago.

There are very few cultures that still exist after being thrown off their land that long ago. Romani still exist, but we really aren't sure exactly where they came from... last I heard the best theory was somewhere in India. Native Americans and other indigenous people displaced by colonization were forced off between 100-500 years ago and a lot of their culture has been lost. This makes it kind of difficult to compare the Jewish situation to anything else. But if there was a movement to give the Native Americans back Montana, and fuck all the white people currently living in Montana, they can move or they can live in the new Native American nation... honestly I do not think the left would object to this. (The right would, they'd screech about it, but a lot of leftists would either be "good for them! fuck those white Montanans!" or "well, I dont think it's right to force people out of their homes, but Native Americans were forced off that land in the first place, so...") The Native Americans lost that territory like 150 years ago or so, not 2000. It's not the same thing. But it is, unfortunately, the closest analogy we have, because no one else managed to hang onto their culture and their memory of having a homeland and the world's memory of it too, for 2000 years.

So. Can you criticize Israel? How can you not? You have to criticize Israel to be a good person because they are murdering civilians. They received a horrible provocation from professional provocateurs who knew that they would react harshly, and that that reaction would fuel their movement, and they did exactly what Hamas knew they would, which is incredibly stupid from the perspective of protecting Israel (but Netanyahu wants to protect his own power, not Israeli citizens) and also morally bankrupt on every level. Arguing that Hamas didn't actually do anything all that terrible is simultaneously untrue and besides the point, because Palestinian civilians aren't Hamas and you can't fight a terrorist group with bombs.

But can you argue, with a straight face, that a homeland for Jewish people shouldn't exist? When Israel's behavior has just caused worldwide antisemitism to spike, and once again, random Jews are being subjected to violence for nothing they did? When we have 2000 years of history of the world attacking Jewish people for no good reason? (I do have some theories as to the reasons, but none of them were good ones.) How do you think Jewish people should protect themselves from antisemitic violence, then? What other options are on the table?

And if you're blaming random Jewish people on the Internet who are not Israeli for the actions of Israel, you are doing the same thing the state of Israel is doing when they blame all Palestinians for the actions of Hamas. Justifying their behavior. Plus, if you come from a colonial power, and if you're on the Internet odds are you do, you're being a sickening hypocrite, because I bet you don't want to be murdered for the atrocities your country has committed. I sure don't! I don't want people blaming me for the Iraq War! I was against it. I don't want people blaming me for Trump! I voted against him. I'm American and my country has done horrible, horrible things that I don't want people to treat me badly for because I also think they're horrible and never supported them... but that doesn't mean I'd be okay with America ceasing to exist.

Jews who support Israel's existence, whether they are Israeli or not, are still not personally responsible for Binyamin Netanyahu being a monster. Israelis aren't entirely responsible for the fucker, given that it is human nature to vote conservative when you live in fear, which is why conservatives fearmonger so hard. Their press probably makes it fairly hard to learn about the atrocities they are committing, just like the American press makes it hard to know what evil things America has done lately. But especially, Jews who aren't Israeli citizens can still support Israel's existence while believing that Israel's current behavior is an atrocity, because Israel was founded to protect Jews from worldwide antisemitism, which if you are blaming Jews for Israel's behavior, you're participating in.

I'm not Jewish. But I find the behavior of gentiles who are demanding that Jews not only reject what Israel is doing (that's fair, it's monstrous) but reject Israel having a right to exist, in a world where America, which took over a continent because we felt like it and slaughtered most of the people who lived here, is never told it doesn't have a right to exist... I mean if you're so out there that yes, you believe America and Canada and Australia have no right to exist, I suppose you're being consistent, but if that is not your position, you don't get to argue against Israel existing. Israel displaced people who didn't deserve it and has treated them like shit ever since, just like every other colonizing power, but Israel, at least, is doing it because Jewish people keep getting murdered for no reason and this has been happening for two millennia. The US has no such justification for existence.

This entire situation is more complicated and nuanced than you think. Not the part where Israel's committing atrocities, that's beyond question. That's horrifying and the world really needs to force them to stop. But everything else -- Zionism, the existence of Israel and its right to self defense, blaming Jews for Israel, yadda yadda -- all that. That is more complicated than you think it is.

#israel #palestine #antisemitism #colonialism #expecting to lose followers now

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usafphantom2 · 1 year ago

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How to identify and track military aircraft in online applications

It is surprisingly easy to track what is flying above you, but there are limits - you will still see only what the military wants you to see.

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 12/24/2023 - 14:40 in Military

The system, known as ADS-B, allows you to quickly search for what is flying in your vicinity, or even on the other side of the world.

In the past, before the 2000s, people looked at the sky and saw the trail of condensation created by commercial and military jets at high altitudes and wondered what would be the aircraft that passed over our heads, where it was going, where it came from. Today, thanks to a worldwide transponder system, you can track even U.S. military aircraft.

About a decade later, it was already possible to follow commercial aircraft, knowing which airline, flight level, speed and route taken by the flights, being able to accurately follow the arrival of a plane at the airport.

Currently, equipped with a smartphone and with a particular app or website, we can find all this and much more.

Civil aviation authorities around the world began to implement Automatic Transmission of Dependent Surveillance (ADS-B) in the early years. The ADS-B is an aircraft-mounted transponder system that transmits a variety of information in real time, including the location, speed, direction of the aircraft and a unique transponder code for each aircraft. This information, plotted on a map, gives pilots and ground controllers the ability to quickly get a sense of the local airspace (or the airspace of most places on Earth).

Transponder signals can also be captured by cheap terrestrial receivers that amateurs, aviation enthusiasts and others can build for less than $100 using widely available hardware and software, some of which can be obtained on flight tracking sites.

Movement of aircraft tracked by the ADS-B Exchange around the world.

As of 2021, ADS-B transponders are mandatory in the USA, Europe, Australia, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Taiwan and Vietnam, and the system is being implemented in China, Canada and Saudi Arabia.

In the United States, almost every type of aircraft - from commercial aircraft and small private aircraft to military fighters, helicopters, bombers, tankers, information-collection aircraft, transport, special operations aircraft, drones and even VIP aircraft carrying the president and members of Congress - are required to transpose into controlled airspace.

A screenshot of the online flight tracking site ADS-B Exchange showing a snapshot of military flights in the United States on July 18 of this year on the ADS-B Exchange.

The information is not only available to the aviation community. The ADS-B Exchange website gathers aircraft tracking data and makes it available in real time, allowing anyone to track air traffic anywhere the system is working.

Unlike FlightRadar24.com or FlightAware.com - which rely on flight tracking data streams provided by the FAA and other international aviation authorities or obtained from Aireon's global ADS-B air traffic surveillance and tracking network, as well as ground-based ADS-B receivers - ADSBExchange.com relies on thousands of independently owned ground-based ADS-B receivers and multilayer devices, or MLAT.

youtube

MLAT receivers in groups of three or four in a small geographical area use triangulation to track aircraft. In other words, if an aircraft is not using ADS-B for transponder as military aircraft sometimes do, MLAT receivers can still capture their S-Mode transponder signals and establish a position and tracking for an aircraft, as well as altitude and speed data.

The network of receivers of the ADSBExchange.com website includes 10,000 MLAT devices worldwide. As it does not collect flight tracking data from government or commercial sources, it may offer "unfiltered" flight tracking.

ADS-B Exchange merges ADS-B data with other publicly known data on military and civilian aircraft around the world. Individual aircraft are plotted on OpenStreetMap - a free geographical database of the world - represented by color-coded icons according to altitude. The icons range from individual autostos and Cessna 182 to four-engine Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 civil aircraft. Military icons include U-2, KC-135 Stratotankers, C-17 Globemaster III, C-5M Super Galaxy, V-22 Ospreys and so on, although fighters are often represented by a more generic icon model of swept wing and stuffy nose.

A click on the icon includes spatial information, including ground speed, altitude and location, ADS-B signal strength and other data. It also includes the registration of the aircraft, the country of registration and adds a photograph or thumbnail of the aircraft when possible.

All this means that, with the click of a button, you can instantly find out what is flying near you.

Although aircraft tracking has long been a niche hobby among aviation enthusiasts who like to catalog the comings and goings of aircraft, the public availability of transponder data in mid-air also offers journalists, researchers and other observers an effective means of tracking the movements and activities of the planes of the richest and most powerful in the world. The aggregation and analysis of public flight data shed light on the CIA's torture flights, the movements of the Russian oligarchs, and Google's friendly relationship with NASA.

Flights from ISR platforms tracked in the Ukraine region for a period of one month, at the end of last year.

More recently, these tracking techniques have gained international attention after attracting the wrath of Elon Musk, the richest man in the world. After buying social media giant Twitter, Musk banned an account that shared the movements of his private jet.

Despite repeated promises to protect freedom of expression - and a specific promise not to ban the @ElonJet account - on the platform, Musk censored anyone who shared the whereabouts of his plane, claiming that the data obtained entirely legally and totally public was equivalent to "murder coordinates".

A Global Hawk flown remotely with the indicater FORTE12 was the last aircraft tracked over Ukraine before the invasion of Russian forces and the closure of the country's airspace to civilian air traffic, according to the global flight tracking service Flightradar24.

Soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a US Global Hawk, with the indication FORTE12, was followed almost daily by thousands of people on the Flighradar24 platform.

Publicly available flight tracking data is a growing problem for the U.S. military, a senior Pentagon official said recently.

Sites such as ADSBExchange.com, FlightRadar24.com and FlightAware.com aggregate flight data in the United States and abroad using a combination of commercial and citizen-owned sensors that capture the movements of commercial, civil and military aircraft in real time, 24 hours a day.

"The Department of Defense considers open source flight tracking and data aggregation on our aircraft a direct threat to our ability to conduct military air operations around the world," the U.S. Air Force said.

An F-35 fighter was tracked in the Flightradar 24 app earlier this year, during a flight near Phoenix, Arizona.

Aggregated by websites and retransmitted on social media accounts, the data can be a free source of intelligence for nation-states, terrorist groups or individuals, revealing everything from operational movements of aircraft, aviation units and troops to training standards, development test flights and the movements of government officials, experts said.

This image shows a Beechcraft King Air configured for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions in the military aviation field of Baledogle, Somalia, in 2021. The U.S. civil registration code on the side was not assigned to any specific aircraft at the time and its exact operator remains unknown. However, this is very much in line with the types of aircraft that JSOC allegedly operates clandestinely and that would be interested in hiding the activities through the proposed aircraft flight profile management database tool.

Therefore, military aircraft routinely transmit their ADS-B data, but have the option to turn it off when necessary. The Pentagon is well aware that aviation enthusiasts - and potential opponents - monitor ADS-B data and that aircraft turn off transponders when they do not want anyone to observe them. Often when following the aircraft they simply disappear abruptly from the map.

The U.S. military is also known to use fake hexadecimal codes, which identify a transponder as belonging to a specific aircraft, to help mask certain sensitive flights. For example, the U.S. Air Force VC-25A Air Force One jet that transported President Donald Trump to Afghanistan in 2019 electronically disguised itself for a time as a KC-10 Extender tanker in this way.

As a particularly notable and relevant example of tracking high-profile U.S. military flights, the U.S. Air Force C-40 Clipper aircraft that transported Nancy Pelosi, then a representative of the Democratic Party in California and mayor, to Taiwan last year was visible online, despite concerns that the Chinese military might try to forcibly prevent the flight from reaching the island or harassing it otherwise.

This flight, which used the SPAR19 indicative, was one of the most tracked of all time in terms of total simultaneous users monitoring it on the popular website FlightRadar24, and ended up taking down the app for a period of time.

The Ghostrider trail on the night between November 20 and 21, 2023, on Radarbox.com.

In mid-November, something new happened: a U.S. aircraft involved in combat apparently left its ADS-B on, and did so intentionally. An AC-130J Ghostrider attack aircraft carried out an airstrike against a target that had launched a missile attack against U.S. forces at Al Assad Air Base in Iraq. The AC-130 gunship has a variety of weapons, including 30mm and 105mm cannons, and precisely guided bombs and missiles, and usually flies in lazy circles above its target, pouring firepower on the targets below. In Al Assad's retaliatory air attack, according to The Aviationist website, the Ghostrider involved apparently kept his transponder on all the time, drawing large circles on the ADS-B map and it was possible to be seen on the Radar Box website.

In Brazil, it is possible to track several military aircraft in aircraft tracking applications, including the most widespread Flightradar24. Next, you can see the KC-390, C-130 Hercules transport aircraft or T-27 Tucano coaches in flight near the Air Force Academy. The FAB has hidden data from the presidential aircraft A319 (VC-1) and E190 (VC-2) on these sites.

FAB T-27 Tucano aircraft are often seen flying near Pirassununga, AFA headquarters.

More recently, it was possible to follow the flights of the Brazilian Air Force that went to seek refugees and Brazilian citizens who were and Israel and the Gaza Strip. The KC-30 and KC-390 aircraft could be tracked in real time on the tracking platforms.

If you are a fan of military aircraft or just like to know what is happening when you hear the noise of aircraft engines, ADS-B is a free and reliable tool that you should use to track and identify planes. Observing fighters, spy planes and transport coming and going can help you get to know your armed forces. Just keep in mind that, at least when it comes to military flights, you will only see what the military wants you to see.

BONUS

From Christmas Eve, the flight tracking site Flightradar24 will be keeping an eye on Santa Claus and his reindeer Rudolph, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen as they accelerate around the world.

Initially tracking Santa Claus was a challenge, but thanks to an ADS-B transponder installed a few years ago and the reindeer horns functioning as an additional antenna, Flightradar24 uses a mixture of terrestrial and satellite ADS-B coverage to track Santa Claus during his busiest night of the year.

To follow the good old man, go here.

Tags: Military AviationtrackingTechnology

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Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.