According to Meta’s security researchers, 7,704 Facebook accounts, 954 Pages, 15 Groups and 15 Instagram accounts were removed, which constitutes one of the biggest collections of fake accounts that the company has ever discovered. This operation is believed to be the largest covert influence operation that spans across multiple platforms, according to researchers.
The campaign attempted to shape public opinion in Taiwan, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Japan. However, the campaign’s low-quality spammy attempts often failed to reach their intended audiences.
Researchers discovered a network responsible for a campaign involving fake posts and propaganda that had been tracked since 2019. The operation, named Spamouflage, was exposed by experts at Graphika, including Ben Nimmo, the company’s director of investigations who now leads Meta’s global threat intelligence team.
The aim of this operation was to conceal the identities of those behind it, but Meta found links to individuals associated with Chinese law enforcement. Consequently, the network’s activities were removed from major platforms.
Meta has revealed that there were fake accounts attempting to spread messages in favour of China. These messages included positive comments about China and its province Xinjiang, as well as negative critiques of the United States, Western foreign policies, and critics of the Chinese government, such as journalists and researchers. Meta has traced the accounts back to law enforcement figures in China, but has not identified any specific agency or organisation.
!(function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {
function loadFBEvents(isFBCampaignActive) {
if (!isFBCampaignActive) {
return;
}
(function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {
if (f.fbq) return;
n = f.fbq = function() {
n.callMethod ? n.callMethod(…arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments);
};
if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;
n.push = n;
n.loaded = !0;
n.version = ‘2.0’;
n.queue = [];
t = b.createElement(e);
t.async = !0;
t.defer = !0;
t.src = v;
s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s);
})(f, b, e, ‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’, n, t, s);
fbq(‘init’, ‘593671331875494’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
};
function loadGtagEvents(isGoogleCampaignActive) {
if (!isGoogleCampaignActive) {
return;
}
var id = document.getElementById(‘toi-plus-google-campaign’);
if (id) {
return;
}
(function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {
t = b.createElement(e);
t.async = !0;
t.defer = !0;
t.src = v;
t.id = ‘toi-plus-google-campaign’;
s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s);
})(f, b, e, ‘https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-877820074’, n, t, s);
};
window.TimesApps = window.TimesApps || {};
var TimesApps = window.TimesApps;
TimesApps.toiPlusEvents = function(config) {
var isConfigAvailable = “toiplus_site_settings” in f && “isFBCampaignActive” in f.toiplus_site_settings && “isGoogleCampaignActive” in f.toiplus_site_settings;
var isPrimeUser = window.isPrime;
if (isConfigAvailable && !isPrimeUser) {
loadGtagEvents(f.toiplus_site_settings.isGoogleCampaignActive);
loadFBEvents(f.toiplus_site_settings.isFBCampaignActive);
} else {
var JarvisUrl=”https://jarvis.indiatimes.com/v1/feeds/toi_plus/site_settings/643526e21443833f0c454615?db_env=published”;
window.getFromClient(JarvisUrl, function(config){
if (config) {
loadGtagEvents(config?.isGoogleCampaignActive);
loadFBEvents(config?.isFBCampaignActive);
}
})
}
};
})(
window,
document,
‘script’,
);
More News
OnePlus Nord CE 4 to launch in India on April 1: Here’s what the smartphone will offer – Times of India
Xiaomi 14 series is now available in India: Sale, pre-booking and more – Times of India
Kiren Rijiju: Why Earth Sciences minister Rijiju is upset with this European IT company | – Times of India