A phony, U.S.-friendly social media campaign prompts questions
A spokesperson for Meta, Facebook’s parent company, said it was the first time it “has removed a foreign-focused influence network promoting the United States’ position,” as my colleague Naomi Nix reported (with an assist from Ellen Nakashima).
The report doesn’t claim the U.S. government sponsored the campaign, despite drawing potential links. Nor do Facebook or Twitter. Nonetheless, the findings raise fascinating questions about the limits of the U.S. government to conduct cyber-related activities overseas, and the willingness of U.S. organizations to call it out.
The network of fake accounts touted messages that supported the United States while opposing those of others, like China, Russia and Iran, according to the report. (Major social media companies are usually taking down fake news campaigns from, well … China, Russia and Iran.)
Wednesday’s study said the batch of pro-U.S. accounts even did things that everyone does on social media, like post cat pictures, in a bid to appear like authentic users.
The report made an impression on the internet. Here’s Rolling Stone reporter Adam Rawnsley:
This is a BFD. We’re used to seeing covert pro-Iran/Russia/China/Saudi/UAE/Nicaragua/Philippines/etc social media influence campaigns get ID’ed and booted by the big platforms like Facebook/Twitter. First time we’re seeing a pro-US campaign ID’ed & booted https://t.co/7Kwx7k7Rfh
— Adam Rawnsley (@arawnsley) August 24, 2022
But it’s important not to overstate the reach of the removed network of fake accounts. Here’s journalist Kim Zetter:
Covert influence ops pushing…