Facebook says it has removed three separate networks for violating the policy against foreign or government interference which is coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB) on behalf of a foreign or government entity. These networks originated in Russia.
“In each case, the people behind this activity coordinated with one another and used fake accounts as a central part of their operations to mislead people about who they are and what they are doing, and that was the basis for our action. When we investigate and remove these operations, we focus on behavior rather than content, no matter who’s behind them, what they post, or whether they’re foreign or domestic,” Facebook said.
It noted that the three networks targeted many countries around the world and had very limited following globally at the time of disruption. Much of this activity focused on two things: 1) creating fictitious or seemingly independent media entities and personas to engage unwitting individuals to amplify their content and 2) driving people to other websites that these operations control.
In particular, Facebook removed 214 Facebook users, 35 Pages, 18 Groups and 34 Instagram accounts for violating the policy against foreign or government interference which is coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign or government entity. This activity originated in Russia and focused primarily on Syria and Ukraine, and to a lesser extent on Turkey, Japan, Armenia, Georgia, Belarus, and Moldova A small portion of this activity focused on the UK and the US.
The people behind this campaign posted in many languages including English, Ukrainian, Russian and Arabic as they tailored their activity to each audience. They frequently posted about news and current events, including the Syrian civil war, Turkish domestic politics, geopolitical issues in the Asia-Pacific region, NATO, the war in Ukraine, and politics in the Baltics, Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and the US.
