Social media giant Facebook has deactivated thousands of accounts it considers fraudulent. China to influence US politics and bilateral relations, according to an investigative report from Facebook parent company Meta.
The company said it shut down a network of 4,789 fake Facebook accounts in China which targeted US politics and another network of 13 accounts and seven groups targeting India, Tibet and the United States, according to a threat report released Thursday. A third network of fake Russian Facebook accounts was also shut down.
Extensive fraudulent activity on Facebook was also observed using identical account information on X, the social messaging app formerly known as Twitter, and on Instagram, the report said.
Meta said it removed the 4,789 suspicious Facebook accounts, where Chinese posters posed as Americans, as part of a coordinated investigation into “inauthentic behavior.” Some secret Chinese accounts shared links to articles from major US media outlets such as HuffPost, Breitbart, the Wall Street Journal and Fox News.
The report did not indicate whether the activity was linked to the Chinese government but said they should be treated seriously despite their currently limited scope.
“Overall, these networks are still struggling to grow their audiences, but they are continuing their efforts around the world, and our teams remain vigilant and we will continue to share our ideas,” said Nathaniel Gleicher, head of policy of Meta Security and lead author of the study. report.
Mr Gleicher said the deactivations carried out China “now the third most common geographic source of coordinated foreign campaigns of inauthentic behavior that we have disrupted”, behind Russia and Iran.
A report from the State Department’s Global Engagement Center released in September said: China spends “trillions of dollars” each year to shape global public opinion.
“Beijing uses false or biased information to promote positive opinions about the (People’s Republic of China) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),” the Global Engagement Center report said. “Beijing uses manipulative social media tactics such as using bots and trolls to amplify pro-PRC content and silence critical voices.
Chinese propagandists use social media influencers to directly reach foreign audiences, and their efforts are often more convincing than official disinformation efforts.
According to the Meta report, the suspicious Chinese Facebook pages used profile photos and names collected from the Internet to reach and befriend people around the world. The main goal: to influence U.S. policy and perceptions.China reports.
“The same accounts allegedly criticize both sides of the American political spectrum using what appears to be partisan content copied from people on X,” the report said. “Notably, some posts included language specific to X, such as ‘RT’ (i.e. retweet) or ‘@(particular Facebook without modifying it.
The fake accounts copied posts from U.S. politicians, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California; Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat; South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican; and the “war room” of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Other Chinese operations used statements by Senators Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, and Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, as well as Democratic Representatives Sylvia Garcia of Texas and Terri Sewell of Alabama and Republican Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida and Jim Jordan of Ohio.
“It is unclear whether this approach was designed to amplify partisan tensions, build an audience among these politicians’ supporters, or to make fake accounts sharing authentic content appear more authentic,” the report said. .
Links to news articles from U.S. media outlets were also posted and re-shared on Facebook posts by real people, likely in an effort to make the fake sites appear more authentic, according to the report. The content was often political but also covered topics such as gaming, history, models and pets.
In an unusual move, a small portion of the fake accounts of Chinese origin swapped names and profile photos that appeared to be from the United States in mid-year and began claiming to be based in India. Some accounts on this network “suddenly started liking and commenting on posts from the other India-focused network of Chinese origin and Tibet.”
The second deactivated Chinese network focused its Facebook content on the Indian border region known as Arunachal Pradesh, posting negative content about specific individuals, according to the report. On TibetChinese influencer accounts, supposedly created by independence activists, have falsely accused Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama of corruption and pedophilia, the report said.
Another theme of Chinese disinformation detected by Meta investigators accuses the Indian government of corruption and support for ethnic violence in the Indian state of Manipur. Facebook accounts and groups on these issues have gathered around 1,400 accounts who have joined the page.
In an attempt to avoid detection by investigators, the Chinese hid behind fake accounts and resorted to other digital deceptions.
“The operation’s fake Facebook accounts copied the texts of tweets from real Americans, including politicians,” the report said. He noted that Internet Protocol proxy addresses were being used in the United States to mask foreign origin. “This small network operated fictional characters on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) posing as journalists, lawyers and human rights activists. »
Russian disinformation
The fraudulent Russian network is said to include six Facebook accounts, one page and three Instagram accounts. Meta also owns Instagram.
“This network originated in Russia and targeted a global English-speaking audience,” the report said, noting that the network was linked to RT, Russia’s state-run media outlet.
The Russian network sought to circumvent Facebook’s actions to demote and label posts of Russian origin after the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian posters attempted to create two seemingly unrelated popular media projects on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube and attempted to build an audience using generic hashtags such as #news and #world.
The mostly English content promoted official Kremlin themes, such as that Ukraine was guilty of war crimes and that the United States and other Western countries were guilty of “Russophobia.”
Russian Activity has also published criticism of the promotion of transgender rights and human rights in Western countries, including the United States and France. President Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron have also been targets of Russian criticism.
Report warns that foreign threat actors are expected to target the 2024 US elections with activities emanating from Russia, Iran And China.
Meta-investigators consider China as the third social media threat after Russia and Iran.
The Meta report said “foreign threat actors” were trying to reach American voters ahead of various elections next year, including in the United States and Europe. “We must remain attentive to the evolution of their tactics and their targeting on the Internet,” warned the company.
The report said the secret Russian-influenced sites used names such as Election Watch, Lies of Wall Street, Spicy Conspiracy, Truthgate and 50 States of Lie, offering content questioning the health of American democracy and promoting conspiracy theories. Other Russian websites have focused on controversial issues such as migration and border security.
Russian sites followed the news. They used Hamas’ deadly attack on US ally Israel on October 7 to promote the theme of US decline. One site even claimed that Ukraine had supplied weapons to the Palestinian militant group.
Iran The networks often present themselves as conservative media in the United States, according to the report.
Facebook’s removal of the site’s two Chinese networks is part of a campaign that has removed five actors so far this year, according to the report. The sites removed included content praising Chinagovernment and defense Beijingthe widely criticized human rights record in Tibet and Xinjiang. Others attacked the critics of Chinese government around the world and posted on ChinaThe strategic rivalry with the United States in Africa and Central Asia.
The report said China he can be expected to increase his influence operations if the United StatesChina These relationships are emerging as a major theme of the 2024 U.S. election campaigns. Likewise, this election year’s emphasis on U.S. support for Ukraine is likely to trigger increased efforts by Russian sites to shape American popular opinion on the war.
Meta expects foreign influence operations to engage in “perception hijacking” – creating the impression online that “they are everywhere” and fostering fears of widespread deception.
“Perception hacking aims to sow doubt in democratic processes or in the very concept of ‘facts’ without threat actors actually having an impact on the process itself,” the report states.
The use of artificial intelligence for foreign influence “has exploded” this year, the report said, but efforts so far have not been effective. Although a new challenge, Meta investigators “did not see evidence that (AI) will disrupt our industry’s efforts to counter covert influence operations,” the report said. report.
The company said it uses AI to detect and contain the spread of harmful content.
