Meta has removed thousands of Facebook and several Instagram accounts in an effort to disrupt a Chinese propaganda campaign.
Meta removed 7,704 Facebook accounts, 954 Pages, 15 Groups, and 15 Instagram accounts in total, making it one of the largest networks of fake accounts ever discovered by the company.
According to the tech giant, the fake accounts tried to spread pro-China messages, including "positive commentary about China and its province Xinjiang and criticisms of the US, Western foreign policies, and critics of the Chinese government including journalists and researchers".
"We recently took down thousands of accounts and Pages that were part of the largest known cross-platform covert influence operation in the world. 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," Meta said in a blogpost on Tuesday.
Meta also confirmed that it discovered evidence linking the fake accounts to a previously known pro-China influence operation that first surfaced in 2019, dubbed as "Spamouflage".
Despite the size of the effort, Meta claimed that the people behind the fake accounts were not particularly skilled or successful in their efforts to go viral.
"Spamouflage consistently struggled to reach beyond its own (fake) echo chamber. Many comments on Spamouflage posts that we have observed came from other Spamoflauge accounts trying to make it look like they were more popular than they were," Meta said.
The company also mentioned that this network targeted many regions globally, including Taiwan, the US, Australia, the UK, Japan, and global Chinese-speaking audiences.
Meanwhile, Meta rolled out additional transparency features on Threads, including labelling state-controlled media and showing additional information about accounts so that people can know, for example, if accounts may have changed their names.
NIA summons man from Sonamura in Al-Qaeda case, conducts raids
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has issued a summons to a resident of Sonamura Sub-division in Tripura’s Sepahijala District, requiring him to appear in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, by November 21, in connection with an ongoing investigation.
Five-fold increase in India-Russia bilateral trade: Russian Deputy PM
As he co-chaired the 25th meeting of the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission in New Delhi along with External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar, Manturov also drew attention to the importance of expanding cooperation between Indian and Russian banks, mentioning that the current share of settlements in national and alternative currencies has reached almost 90 per cent.
When PM Modi went out of way to help drought-hit Maharashtra in 2016, recounts Fadnavis
Maharashtra was hit with severe drought in 2016 and the state had little resources and wherewithal to lift itself out of the crisis. Devendra Fadnavis, the then state CM turned to PM Modi for help and the latter not only provided swift assistance but also extended wide scale assistance for drawing up an effective mechanism to deal with it.
MVA most unstable vehicle with no wheels or brakes: PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday took a swipe at the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), saying that it is riding in a vehicle with no wheels or brakes and are fighting with each other to drive it.
India’s public sector banks clocks 11 pc growth at Rs 236 lakh crore in April-Sep FY25
Public sector banks (PSBs) showed strong performance in the first half of current fiscal (FY25) with 11 per cent annual growth as their aggregate business stood at Rs 236.04 lakh crore in the April-September period, the government said on Tuesday.
Truly insightful: Gautam Adani hosts envoys from EU, Belgium, Denmark and Germany
Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group, on Tuesday, said it was a privilege to host the ambassadors from the European Union (EU), Belgium, Denmark, and Germany, who visited the world’s largest renewable energy (RE) park in Khavda, Gujarat, and the country's largest port hub in Mundra.
8 parties in tough fight on Mumbai’s 36 seats ahead of civic body polls
The poll battle in Mumbai’s 36 Assembly constituencies has become more intense with the entry of eight major parties including the BJP, Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, Shiv Sena, NCP, NCP(SP), Samajwadi Party and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
55 held for attack on government officials in Telangana
Police in Telangana’s Vikarabad district on Tuesday arrested 55 people in connection with an attack on district officials during a public hearing for the proposed ‘Pharma Village’.