Meta Takes Down Thousands of Accounts Involved in Disinformation Ops from China and Russia
05-Sep-23
By removing hundreds of accounts and sites throughout its platform, Meta has revealed that it has stopped two of the biggest known covert influence campaigns in the world, coming from China and Russia. The network, which had 7,704 Facebook accounts, 954 Pages, 15 Groups, and 15 Instagram accounts, is alleged to have been run by “geographically dispersed operators” in China. It posted articles about China and its province Xinjiang, as well as criticism of the United States and Western foreign policies. It also featured articles critical of the Chinese government.
Guy Rosen, chief information security officer at Meta, described the Chinese disinformation group last week. “It targeted more than 50 apps, including Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, Pinterest, Medium, Blogspot, LiveJournal, VKontakte, Vimeo, and dozens of smaller platforms and forums,” Rosen said.
