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Friday 25 November 2022 - 09:57

Report: US Military Likely Behind Dozens of Fake Facebook, Instagram Accounts

Story Code : 1026778
Report: US Military Likely Behind Dozens of Fake Facebook, Instagram Accounts
"We removed 39 Facebook accounts, 16 Pages, two Groups, and 26 accounts on Instagram for violating our policy against coordinated inauthentic behavior," the report read, Sputnik reported.
 
"[O]ur investigation found links to individuals associated with the US military," it added.
 
This network originated in the United States and focused on a number of countries including Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Somalia, Syria, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Yemen, the report noted.
 
The operation of the fake accounts ran across multiple internet services, including Twitter, YouTube, and Telegram, as well as Russia-based VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, according to the report.
 
Pentagon Spokesperson Cesar Santiago remarked Wednesday that the Defense Department was aware of the findings in the social media giant's quarterly adversarial threat report, but declined to give a comment.
 
"We we look into and assess any information" released in the report, Santiago stated.
 
The company's report comes after a September Washington Post report detailed that the Pentagon had opened a review into how its clandestine psychological operations were being conducted. The review came after complaints were raised about the US military's influence via social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
 
In September, the media giant announced it took down 1,600 fake accounts for allegedly spreading Russian propaganda about the situation in Ukraine. Also in September, the company took down 81 Facebook accounts, eight Pages, one Group, and two accounts on Instagram that were allegedly related to China.
 
Russia designated Meta as an extremist organization in March after the social media giant selectively lifted its rules to allow Ukrainians to call for violence and use hate speech against Russian "invaders", including calls for the death of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
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