Facebook has removed several groups, pages and accounts belonging to two campaigns from its own platform and Instagram for spreading misinformation. The alleged groups are said to be from China and the Philippines, where the members are sharing posts regarding politics, communism and terrorism. They were reported to have used VPNs to hide and used low budgets for advertising.
Two Organised Campaigns Spreading Spam on Facebook
Though Facebook scans for malicious campaigns and removes them actively, fraudsters are rising up with new tricks and social methods to spread spam. In the latest report by Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook Head of Security Policy, two groups linked to China and Philippines were removed from their platform for spreading fake political news.
Firstly, the Chinese linked group involved about 115 accounts, 11 pages, 9 groups, and 6 Instagram accounts, who focused on Southeast Asia, US and Philippines regions to spread political news of situations around South China Sea, Beijing and Hong Kong. Parties here are posting, commenting and liking their posts, and even spending about $60 on advertising to move socially and organically.
The group in here is writing up posts for and against US presidential candidates like Donald Trump, Joe Biden etc. Also, the were reported to be using VPNs to hide the location of their operations. In the second operation, Facebook detected 57 Facebook accounts, 31 pages, and 20 Instagram accounts belonging to a Filipino group.
They were banned for violating Facebook’s “policy against foreign or government interference which is coordinated inauthentic behaviour on behalf of a foreign or government entity.” These groups are posting in both English and Filipino about news regarding military activities, politics, terrorism and communism. When tracked back, these groups are found to be related to “Philippine military and Philippine police“!
Also, they were reported to have spent about $1,100 in advertising. Facebook bans accounts and posts if they’re against their Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior (CIB) policies, which it reports and recommends users to report to them when noticed.
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