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Facebook says it has removed hundreds of fake accounts coordinated with links to people in China and the Philippine military who were interfering in the politics of the Philippines and the United States.
The company said all the accounts, on two separate networks based in China and the Philippines, were removed for violating its policy against foreign or government interference, which it defines as “coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign or government entity.”
While the accounts had a negligible impact on posts targeting the United States, activity in the Philippines reached hundreds of thousands of people. A network that focused on national politics in the Philippines was found to have ties to the military and police, and appeared to have accelerated its operations between 2019 and 2020, Facebook said.
Approximately 280,000 people received publications in English and Filipino, on national policy, military counterterrorism activities and proposed legislation, criticism of communism, youth activists and opposition, the Communist Party of the Philippines and its military wing, and the National Democratic Front. From philippines.
The Atlantic Council Digital Forensic Research Laboratory (DFRLab) had access to some of the specific pages prior to their removal. He said the oldest example dates back to 2015 and included “red-labeling” critics of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, calling opponents terrorists or communists. It comes amid a series of violent attacks against human rights defenders in the country, including 13 members of the left-wing group Karapatan, just within Duterte’s term.
“The military and police, along with other government agencies, have been ‘red tagging’ Karapatan for years,” Human Rights Watch said last month. “And the reality is that people who are ‘red tagged’ are at higher risk, even of being targeted for murder.”
The RDFLab said it found evidence in its subset of accounts of ties to people in the military, specifically including the head of the military’s social media center.
The Philippine police and military denied any link to the Facebook accounts.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said he was scheduled to meet with Facebook Philippines policy chief on Wednesday afternoon. “As regards the AFPs, there are no accounts maintained by the AFPs that have been closed or eliminated by Facebook. They are all operational, ”AFP spokesman General Edgard Arevalo told The Guardian.
“We will take the opportunity to ask [Facebook] for details on that report, ”he said.
“The AFP defends the veracity and responsibility of the network account administrators and SocMed regarding the content of the publications on our websites, pages and accounts, he added.
Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade Jr, spokesman for the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), headed by Duterte, disputed Facebook’s accusations against one of the groups. The Facebook group, Hands Off Our Children, describes itself as “a group of mothers fighting against the recruitment of terrorists.”
Parlade claimed he knew at least six of the members and the page was not maintained by the military. Who is Facebook to judge them for what they are going through? It won’t surprise me if the interest groups affected by the truth that these parents are spreading are responsible for the takedown, ”Parlade said.
Facebook was alerted to part of the network by civil society groups and independent media outlet Rappler, which told The Guardian: “We welcome the removal of state-sponsored influence operations that attempt to prevent journalists from do our job and manipulate the citizen democracies. “
Sarah Elago, a Filipino politician who had been targeted by several of the accounts, including with tampered photographs, said Facebook’s action was “good news for all who have been targeted by state-sponsored disinformation.”
“Even while we welcome the findings and actions of Facebook, there are many more pages and accounts that need to be reviewed to post similar content that incites harm and hatred against critics, opposition and dissidents.”
China-linked accounts, pages and groups on Facebook and Instagram used virtual private networks to hide their location and spread specific content in Southeast Asia and, in particular, in the Philippines, where their posts were tracked by more than 130,000 followers.
Publications in Chinese, English and Filipino, focusing on global news and current affairs, including China’s stocks in the South China Sea and Hong Kong, contain content supporting Duterte and the potential wielded by his daughter, Sarah Duterte, in the 2022 elections, critical. Rappler, and some praise and criticism of China.
