Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta said on Tuesday that it China based network disabled Who was previously working to incite American political division on social media mid-term elections in November, I
The Influence campaign included about 80 accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter that planned to incite conflict over “hot button” issues such as abortion and gun control.
“What this operation was doing was targeting American domestic politics, targeting both sides,” Meta Global Threat Intelligence Lead Ben Nimmosaid in a statement.
“And this is the first time we’ve seen it this way from a Chinese operation. So even though it was small, we caught it early, but it’s a significant change from what we’ve seen from Chinese operations.” I
Nimmo said the message needed to send the accounts was “America is bad, China is good”.
The fake posts, which first surfaced in November 2021, have posed as liberals calling out conservatives on gun control and abortion restrictions and Republican lawmakers such as Florida’s Censor Marco Rubio and Texas’ Ted Cruz, as well as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. thrown out.
His approach would then turn to conservatives, who were blasting liberals on similar issues, attacking President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Meta said that while the influence campaign originated in China, it was unable to determine any level of involvement by the Chinese government. I
According to the company, the users behind the fake accounts “largely clinging to a shift pattern that coincides with working hours in China from nine to five, Monday through Friday.”
“This meant that the operation was being posted mostly while Americans were sleeping,” the social media giant said.
Big tech companies wary of attempts to promote propaganda during the 2020 presidential campaign ended censoring the Post’s series of reports in October 2020 Hunter Biden’s tangled network of foreign trade deals While his father, Joe Biden, served as vice president in the Obama administration.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg admitted in August that his company had made a mistake Banning stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop from the stage.
“Fact after it turned out, fact-checkers looked at it, no one was able to say it was false… I think it sucks, though, it probably would have gone through a criminal trial in the same way.” but turns out to be innocent in the end is useless,” he told Joe Rogan on his podcast.
META also said it disrupted a Russian-based campaign that spread misinformation about the war in Ukraine and targeted Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, as well as Ukraine.
Of the roughly 60 accounts, many were those that tried to imitate the German newspapers Der Spiegel and Bild and media organizations such as Britain’s The Guardian.
The Russian network will distribute fake articles on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Telegram, Twitter and online petition sites criticizing Ukraine and its refugees, supporting Russian motives in the seven-month-old war and claiming that US and European sanctions will eventually be reversed. . I
“During our investigation, as we blocked the domain of this operation, they attempted to establish a new website, suggesting persistence and continued investment in this activity on the Internet,” said Meta.
post with wires