Meta links US military to propaganda campaign
Against China, Russia and Iran
Meta ‘s Q3 threat analysis revealed that ” individuals associated with the US military ” are linked to an online propaganda campaign. The campaign was the first covert pro-US propaganda operation to stop a major tech company, independent researchers claimed .
The campaign supported the US and its allies, while targeting countries such as Russia, China and Iran. However, experts in the field said that it was largely ineffective.
On Facebook, 39 accounts, 16 pages and 2 groups were removed for violating the platform’s ” coordinated inauthentic behavior ” policy, while another 26 accounts were removed on Instagram. Meta pointed out that the country of origin of the network was the USA.
The campaigns mainly targeted Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Russia, Somalia, Syria, Uzbekistan and Yemen and included fake celebrities and artificially generated images. One account used a “teased” image of actress Valeria Menendez.
Accounts targeting Iran criticized the Iranian authorities and their policies, particularly on women’s rights issues. They often presented themselves as independent media and ran campaigns on multiple platforms.
Although the people behind the operation tried to hide their identity and timing, our investigation found links to people associated with the US military.
The US Pentagon stated:
We are aware of the report published by Meta. At this time we have no comment on the report or on any possible actions the department may have taken as a result of the report.
