Time.news – Over 1600 fake Facebook accounts have been blocked by Meta, the company that controls the platform, for spreading Russian propaganda in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Ukraine. This was announced by the company of Mark Zuckerberg, claiming that it was the largest and most complex network connected to Russianever identified since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine.
Meta told The Associated Press that it had identified and disabled the fake news network before it could reach a large audience. The operation involved more than 60 copy sites of some of the most important Western newspapers, including the Guardian and Der Spiegel. Once clicked on the site the user was sent on Russian propaganda news and disinformation about Ukraine. “The operation featured an unusual combination of sophistication and brute strength. Counterfeit websites and the use of many languages required both technical and linguistic investments. The amplification on social media, on the other hand, was mainly based on raw ads and fake accounts ”.
Meta researchers also have identified and dismantled a much smaller network of fake news from China which attempted to disseminate political content in the United States ahead of the mid-term elections scheduled for November. The operation reached only a limited American audience, with some posts only being viewed by one person. The company pointed out that it was the first Beijing network to target Americans with political messages.
“We shot down – Meta said – a vast network that originated in Russia and targeted mainly Germany, but also France, Italy, Ukraine and the United Kingdom with narratives focused on the war in Ukraine. The operation began in May of this year and was centered on a sprawling network of over 60 websites that accurately impersonate the legitimate websites of news outlets in Europe, including Spiegel, The Guardian and Bild ”.
On these sites copy according to Meta “they would have published original articles criticizing Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees, they supported Russia and argued that Western sanctions on Russia would backfire. They would then promote these articles and even YouTube memes and videos on many Internet services, including Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Twitter, Change.org and Avaaz petition websites and even LiveJournal.
During the investigation “when we blocked the domains of this operation, they have attempted to create new websites, suggesting persistence and continued investment in this Internet business. They mainly operated in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Ukrainian. On some occasions the contents of the operation have been amplified by the Facebook pages of the Russian embassies in Europe and Asia ”.
Speaking of fake news from China, Meta said it had removed a “small network” targeting the United States, but also the Czech Republic and some Chinese and French-speaking audiences elsewhere. The campaign “included four largely separate and short-lived effortseach focused on a particular audience at different times between autumn 2021 and mid-September 2022 ”.
In the United States, the China-based operation “targeted people on both sides of the political spectrum,” Meta said, and was the first Chinese network focused on US domestic politics to be halted before the mid-term elections. deadline of 2022.
The campaign in the Czech Republic was leveraged anti-government narratives, targeting state support for Ukraine. Meta said each campaign included about half a dozen accounts and posted “during business hours in China” and few people actually engaged with the posts.