Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced Wednesday that it had taken down a major China-based disinformation network that spread content on sensitive political topics in Europe and the United States.
Meta said it removed more than 100 Facebook pages, profiles and Instagram accounts linked to this disinformation network, which also operates on other platforms such as YouTube, Telegram and Twitter, accusing them of violating its policies.
Fifty other accounts linked to another China-based network were also removed, the US company said in its quarterly report on adverse threats. “These latest networks have experimented with a variety of tactics that we have never seen before in China-based operations,” the report noted.
“Recent behaviors include setting up a front media company in the West, hiring freelance writers around the world, offering to recruit protesters, and co-opting an NGO in Africa,” it added.
Although Meta removed some accounts, much of the content still remains online, including on the social network Twitter, owned by billionaire Elon Musk.
increasingly sophisticated operations
The messages broadcast range from Europe-focused content to issues that divide the United States, including police brutality, crime and LGBT+ rights, to posts defending Beijing’s position on its policy in the western region of Xinjiang, where activists they accuse the authorities of detaining more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims in forced re-education camps.
Twitter and Facebook are officially blocked in mainland China, users must resort to banned VPNs to use their websites and apps.
Russia has long been accused of running “troll farms” in an attempt to sway public opinion in the West, and China is not considered very advanced in this area.
But Meta said the latest networks discovered on its platforms indicated that operations in China were becoming increasingly sophisticated.
Last month, US authorities also said they had indicted a group of agents from China’s Ministry of Public Security, alleging they had operated a network of social media accounts that spread pro-Beijing messages.
Source: BFM TV
