Facebook: Deletion of more than 500 accounts linked to a Chinese disinformation network

DISINFORMATION Meta called this Chinese disinformation network “sprawling and unsuccessful”

Facebook dismantles Chinese disinformation network – Geeko

Five hundred Facebook accounts that promoted false claims that the United States was interfering in efforts to achieve this goal. find the origins of Covid-19, were deleted. Meta conjures up a sprawling and unsuccessful Chinese disinformation network which targeted audiences in the United States, United Kingdom and Chinese-speaking audiences. Ta & iuml; wan, & agrave; Hong Kong and Tibet.

United States accused of intimidation

The first declarations, which come from a fake account attributed; & agrave; a & ldquo; & nbsp; Swiss biologist & nbsp; & raquo; called & oacute; Wilson Edwards, appeared on July 24. Posted on Facebook and Twitter, they claimed that & ldquo; WHO sources and a number of fellow researchers & rsquo; complained of & ldquo; tremendous pressure & nbsp; and even bullying & rsquo; from the United States regarding the WHO’s plan to renew the investigation into the origins of the coronavirus. This information comes from a November report from Meta.

Indeed, since 2020, the WHO investigation has become a source of tension between the United States, China and other countries.

These publications have been covered overwhelmingly by Chinese state-run media, such as the Shanghai Daily, the People’s Daily, and the Global Times. After examining public reports, Facebook deleted 524 Facebook accounts, 20 pages, four groups and 86 Instagram accounts.

A matter of state

So who is behind this campaign? & Nbsp; The disinformation operation required the creation of a fake account, that of Wilson Edwards. Then several hundred other fake accounts and a minority; of genuine accounts have amplified; the message.

& ldquo; This is the first time we see an operation that includes a coordinated group & rsquo; employees of the & rsquo; & rsquo; & rsquo; & rsquo; s & rsquo; amplifies in this way & rsquo; adds the Meta group, adding to have discovered & ldquo; & nbsp; links with individuals in mainland China, in particular Sichuan Silence Information Technology Co Ltd employees and associated individuals Chinese state infrastructure companies based around the world. Sichuan Silence Information is a company security networks and information. It provides technical support to the Chinese Ministry of Security. public and at CNCERT, the team that coordinates China’s cybersecurity emergency response.

The other accounts would be linked to & agrave; people working in infrastructure companies in the Chinese state. More specifically, companies producing electricity, civil engineering, telecommunications and transport.

An inefficient campaign

Meta holds however & agrave; reassure. According to the group’s report, the social media campaign was reportedly successful. & ldquo; & ldquo; largely unsuccessful & rdquo ;.

The creators of the disinformation campaign used a virtual personal network (VPN) infrastructure. The objective both to conceal its origin and to donate. Edwards a personality; more likely. His profile photo also appears to have been taken. generated using machine learning capability.

Indeed, the Swiss Embassy has declared; on August 10, it was unlikely that this person would exist. The Facebook account came into being two weeks before it was first published and only had three friends. According to the Swiss diplomatic mission, & ldquo; & ldquo; there is no register of a Swiss citizen with the name of Wilson Edwards & nbsp; and no academic article under that name & nbsp; & raquo ;. The embassy called Chinese media & agrave; remove all references to this person.

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