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Facebook has blocked a network that is said to have spread Russian propaganda, with the help of manipulated images and fabricated editors. The target group were left-wing activists.
By Patrick Gensing, ARD Fact Seeker
Facebook has stopped a Russian-operated network that wanted to spread propaganda with the help of unsuspecting independent journalists in the United States and Britain, among others. The reference to the website’s Facebook activities under the name “Peacedata” came from the FBI, the online network said. Freelance journalists have been commissioned to write articles for the network, without knowing what is behind the project. This should make the content appear more authentic and there is no need to create fake profiles.
Between February and August 2020, more than 500 articles were published in English and more than 200 in Arabic, said analytics company Graphika, with which Facebook had widely shared data. The network was still manageable, with 13 Facebook accounts and two pages. The number of followers was not very high either, it was around 14,000 profiles. The “Peacedata” Twitter account has also been banned.
Memories of the US election campaign
Despite the manageable scope, the case is delicate, because Facebook connects the network with the Internet Research Agency (IRA) of Russia. Before the 2016 presidential election, according to the findings of US intelligence services and online companies, he played a central role in attempts to deepen the division in the United States and lift spirits for then-candidate Donald Trump.
A Facebook representative said it was very important that the public were aware of these activities, even if they had not been particularly successful in the current case. The company also announced that in the past three years it had been able to identify such networks before they could reach a wider audience.
Left target audience
The target group for the coordinated action were mainly left-wing political Facebook users, said, for example, supporters of US Democrat Bernie Sanders and British Labor politician Jeremy Corbyn. The topics of the articles included the crown pandemic, racism in the US and Europe, and the war in Syria. Edward Snowden also played an important role in the reports.
A campaign by an Iranian network was also targeting left-wing activists in the UK and Europe. In terms of foreign policy, the relevant media followed a strictly pro-Russian, pro-Iranian and anti-Israel agenda.
Berlin’s “Redfish” portal, funded by a Russian state broadcaster, wants to serve a similar target group. In various states and regions, Russia is trying to influence public discussions and / or increase existing conflicts through means that are financed from the state budget or state media.
Fictional journalists
On the network, currently blocked by Facebook, made-up people like editorial heads were featured, reports analytics company Graphika. The faces in your profile photos were likely generated with the help of artificial intelligence, presumably with so-called Generative Adversary Networks.
There are similar examples of this approach in Europe. The Sputnik portal, also a Russian state media, has published an editorial by Nicu Goncear at its branch in Moldova for years. Goncear hails from Moldova, but lives in Austria and works there as a public relations specialist, according to Sputnik.
Moldovan fact-checkers reported in an interview with the ARD fact finder Indeed, the person doesn’t even exist. The profile photo had been assembled from various images, as an analysis showed, a Facebook profile of the columnist was obviously fake.
Sputnik Moldau admitted to fact-checkers that journalists don’t exist. It was a pseudonym, he told himself without further explanation. According to the investigation, the alleged Sputnik reporter Elena Komolova also does not exist. Also in this case, details of at least two portraits were taken to generate a new profile photo.
Russian Trolls Quotes
In addition to fictional journalists, Russian fake profiles are also active on social media to influence discussions. Quite successful: an analysis in 2018 showed that in more than 100 cases the British media had unknowingly cited tweets from Russian trolls. The tweets were distributed by known means as reactions on the network.
The US network stopped
However, Facebook now not only took action against the Russian actors, but also removed 55 Facebook accounts, 42 pages and 36 Instagram accounts that were linked to the American company CLS Strategies. Therefore, this network was mainly concentrated in Venezuela, but also in Mexico and Bolivia.
Facebook saw the suspicion of coordinated and inauthentic behavior in this region. However, unlike the Russian network, interference from a state actor was not mentioned.
