Tech Giant Meta has deleted some fake Chinese accounts that pretended to be Americans.Â
These accounts were spreading false information about US politics and US-China relations.
They talked about things like abortion, cultural issues, and support for Ukraine.
There’s no direct link between these accounts and the Chinese government officials, but Meta noticed more of these fake networks from China ahead of the 2024 US elections.
China is now the third-biggest source of such fake networks, after Russia and Iran.
Meta’s report, released in a quarterly update, showed that this China-based network had over 4,700 accounts.
They used pictures and names taken from real users worldwide.
These accounts shared and liked each other’s posts and sometimes copied content from a platform similar to Twitter.
These fake accounts copied posts from various US politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, without any consistent political stance.
They aimed to stir up tension or gain followers among supporters of these politicians. The goal seemed to be making fake accounts look real.
Meta’s rules forbid this kind of fake behaviour, where groups of accounts work together using false identities to mislead others.
Although the content they shared wasn’t always false, it was used to manipulate opinions and create divisions.
The company stopped this large Chinese network before it could gain a real following.
However, they warned that these attempts from foreign actors to influence people online are still a concern, especially leading up to the elections.
Apart from the Chinese network, Meta found two smaller ones, one focusing on India and Tibet, and another from Russia that talked in English about the Ukraine invasion. Russian networks have been increasingly trying to undermine support for Ukraine.
