Facebook removed foreign interference operations
Facebook has removed three unconnected networks of accounts, Pages and Groups for engaging in foreign or government interference — which is coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a government or foreign actor — on Facebook and Instagram. The first operation originated in Russia and primarily targeted Ukraine and its neighboring countries. The second originated in Iran and focused mainly on the US. The third network originated in Myanmar and Vietnam and targeted audiences in Myanmar. Each of them created networks of accounts to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing. Facebook administration have shared information about their findings with industry partners.
They are constantly working to detect and stop this type of activity because they don’t want their services to be used to manipulate people. They have taken down these Pages, Groups and accounts based on their behavior, not the content they posted. In each of these cases, the people behind this activity coordinated with one another and used fake accounts to misrepresent themselves, and that was the basis for their action.
They are making progress rooting out this abuse, but as they've said before, it’s an ongoing challenge. They’re committed to continually improving to stay ahead. That means building better technology, hiring more people and working closer with law enforcement, security experts and other companies.
Recently they have removed 78 Facebook accounts, 11 Pages, 29 Groups and four Instagram accounts for violating their policy against foreign or government interference. This activity originated in Russia and focused primarily on Ukraine and neighboring countries.
The individuals behind this activity posed as locals and used fake accounts — some of which had already been detected and disabled by their automated systems — to manage Groups and Pages, post and comment on various content. Some of these accounts represented themselves as citizen journalists and tried to contact policymakers, journalists and other public figures in the region. The Page admins and account owners typically posted content in Russian, English and Ukrainian about local and political news including public figures in Ukraine, Russian military engagement in Syria, alleged SBU leaks related to ethnic tensions in Crimea and the downing of the Malaysian airliner in Ukraine in 2014. Although the people behind this network attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, fb investigation team found links to Russian military intelligence services.
Presence on Facebook and Instagram: 78 Facebook accounts, 11 Pages, 29 Groups and 4 accounts on Instagram.
Followers: About 500 accounts followed one or more of these Pages, about 6,150 accounts joined at least one of these Groups and around 100 people followed one or more of these Instagram accounts.
Fb admin staff found this activity as part of their internal investigations into Russia-linked, suspected coordinated inauthentic behavior in the region.
Out of the four new foreign interference operations originating from Iran and Russia that Facebook have taken down, one was targeting the US 2020 presidential elections that appears to be linked to the Russian troll agency, the Internet Research Agency (IRA).
The suspected IRA campaign “had the hallmarks of a well-resourced operation that took consistent operational security steps to conceal their identity and location ".
The accounts adopted various political identities, such as pro-Donald Trump, anti-police violence, pro-Bernie Sanders, LGBTQ, feminist, pro-police and pro-Confederate according to analysis.
The deployment of false personas advocating for both sides of a political debate – such as nine accounts designed to look like they were run by black activists protesting against police violence and “thin blue line” accounts defending police officers – echoes the tactics used by the IRA during its 2016 election interference campaign.
The accounts primarily re-shared memes or content created by authentic American social media users such as screenshots of viral tweets or reposts of memes by the conservative group Turning Point USA. The campaign may have been recycling authentic American content in an attempt to conceal its Russian origins, though the firm still detected certain linguistic tics that suggested a foreign origin. An overreliance on pro-Confederate content referencing the 1980s American television show Dukes of Hazzard was another hint.
Although most of the posts were focused on polarizing political issues, some specifically addressed the 2020 election. The fake “black activist” accounts primarily posted in support of Sanders and against Senator Kamala Harris, with some also attacking former vice-president Joe Biden. Both the “progressive” and “conservative” fake accounts attacked Biden.
The accounts on Twitter constantly replied to tweets by members of the US Congress, journalists and media outlets, often using the same hashtags.
The personas were notable for their poor use of English, and also the fact a simple search would reveal that none of them were journalists or media personalities.
This was not a new type of activity, but it shows continuity in terms of the narrative and using commentary from authentic figures.
It's not surprising that this was a small operation. If you are pretending to be journalists soliciting interviews from public figures, you probably don't need hundreds of accounts.
Much like the Russian operation, the accounts picked their targets individually and engaged them personally.
There's much more to online disinformation and propaganda efforts than trolling and fake media reports. Politicians and journalists need to be aware that they're targets, and be wary.
Facebook says it also deactivated about a dozen pages and groups based in Myanmar and Vietnam for violating its policy against “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” which appeared designed to sow confusion and misinformation about telecom providers in Myanmar. Facebook stirred controversy in Myanmar last month when a software error accidentally prevented users from posting in the language of one of the country’s ethnic minorities.
Facebook says its investigation found links between the deactivated accounts and Russian military intelligence services. The company did not find links between the Iran-based accounts and the Iranian government, however, suggesting those efforts may be motivated by profit rather than espionage.
But unlike Russia’s disinformation activity, which seeks to spread false stories with the aim of polluting the information environment. Iran pushes a distorted truth that exaggerates Iran’s moral authority while minimizing Iran’s repression of its citizens and the steep human cost of its own imperial adventures in the wider Middle East.
It’s possible that Iran may attempt direct electoral interference in 2020
Facebook has removed three unconnected networks of accounts, Pages and Groups for engaging in foreign or government interference — which is coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a government or foreign actor — on Facebook and Instagram. The first operation originated in Russia and primarily targeted Ukraine and its neighboring countries. The second originated in Iran and focused mainly on the US. The third network originated in Myanmar and Vietnam and targeted audiences in Myanmar. Each of them created networks of accounts to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing. Facebook administration have shared information about their findings with industry partners.
They are constantly working to detect and stop this type of activity because they don’t want their services to be used to manipulate people. They have taken down these Pages, Groups and accounts based on their behavior, not the content they posted. In each of these cases, the people behind this activity coordinated with one another and used fake accounts to misrepresent themselves, and that was the basis for their action.
They are making progress rooting out this abuse, but as they've said before, it’s an ongoing challenge. They’re committed to continually improving to stay ahead. That means building better technology, hiring more people and working closer with law enforcement, security experts and other companies.
Recently they have removed 78 Facebook accounts, 11 Pages, 29 Groups and four Instagram accounts for violating their policy against foreign or government interference. This activity originated in Russia and focused primarily on Ukraine and neighboring countries.
The individuals behind this activity posed as locals and used fake accounts — some of which had already been detected and disabled by their automated systems — to manage Groups and Pages, post and comment on various content. Some of these accounts represented themselves as citizen journalists and tried to contact policymakers, journalists and other public figures in the region. The Page admins and account owners typically posted content in Russian, English and Ukrainian about local and political news including public figures in Ukraine, Russian military engagement in Syria, alleged SBU leaks related to ethnic tensions in Crimea and the downing of the Malaysian airliner in Ukraine in 2014. Although the people behind this network attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, fb investigation team found links to Russian military intelligence services.
Presence on Facebook and Instagram: 78 Facebook accounts, 11 Pages, 29 Groups and 4 accounts on Instagram.
Followers: About 500 accounts followed one or more of these Pages, about 6,150 accounts joined at least one of these Groups and around 100 people followed one or more of these Instagram accounts.
Fb admin staff found this activity as part of their internal investigations into Russia-linked, suspected coordinated inauthentic behavior in the region.
Out of the four new foreign interference operations originating from Iran and Russia that Facebook have taken down, one was targeting the US 2020 presidential elections that appears to be linked to the Russian troll agency, the Internet Research Agency (IRA).
The suspected IRA campaign “had the hallmarks of a well-resourced operation that took consistent operational security steps to conceal their identity and location ".
The accounts adopted various political identities, such as pro-Donald Trump, anti-police violence, pro-Bernie Sanders, LGBTQ, feminist, pro-police and pro-Confederate according to analysis.
The deployment of false personas advocating for both sides of a political debate – such as nine accounts designed to look like they were run by black activists protesting against police violence and “thin blue line” accounts defending police officers – echoes the tactics used by the IRA during its 2016 election interference campaign.
The accounts primarily re-shared memes or content created by authentic American social media users such as screenshots of viral tweets or reposts of memes by the conservative group Turning Point USA. The campaign may have been recycling authentic American content in an attempt to conceal its Russian origins, though the firm still detected certain linguistic tics that suggested a foreign origin. An overreliance on pro-Confederate content referencing the 1980s American television show Dukes of Hazzard was another hint.
Although most of the posts were focused on polarizing political issues, some specifically addressed the 2020 election. The fake “black activist” accounts primarily posted in support of Sanders and against Senator Kamala Harris, with some also attacking former vice-president Joe Biden. Both the “progressive” and “conservative” fake accounts attacked Biden.
The accounts on Twitter constantly replied to tweets by members of the US Congress, journalists and media outlets, often using the same hashtags.
The personas were notable for their poor use of English, and also the fact a simple search would reveal that none of them were journalists or media personalities.
This was not a new type of activity, but it shows continuity in terms of the narrative and using commentary from authentic figures.
It's not surprising that this was a small operation. If you are pretending to be journalists soliciting interviews from public figures, you probably don't need hundreds of accounts.
Much like the Russian operation, the accounts picked their targets individually and engaged them personally.
There's much more to online disinformation and propaganda efforts than trolling and fake media reports. Politicians and journalists need to be aware that they're targets, and be wary.
Facebook says it also deactivated about a dozen pages and groups based in Myanmar and Vietnam for violating its policy against “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” which appeared designed to sow confusion and misinformation about telecom providers in Myanmar. Facebook stirred controversy in Myanmar last month when a software error accidentally prevented users from posting in the language of one of the country’s ethnic minorities.
Facebook says its investigation found links between the deactivated accounts and Russian military intelligence services. The company did not find links between the Iran-based accounts and the Iranian government, however, suggesting those efforts may be motivated by profit rather than espionage.
But unlike Russia’s disinformation activity, which seeks to spread false stories with the aim of polluting the information environment. Iran pushes a distorted truth that exaggerates Iran’s moral authority while minimizing Iran’s repression of its citizens and the steep human cost of its own imperial adventures in the wider Middle East.
It’s possible that Iran may attempt direct electoral interference in 2020
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