the ban on 84 Facebook accounts, 6 pages, 9 groups and 14 Instagram accounts, citing policy against coordinated inauthentic behavior. Their activity originated in France and targeted mainly the Central African Republic and Mali, but also Niger, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Cote d Ivoire and Chad - all former French colonies in Africa.
About 5,000 or so accounts followed the banned pages, along with 1,600 accounts in the banned groups and about 200 followers on Instagram, according to Facebook s head of security policy Nathaniel Gleicher and Global Threat Disruption Lead David Agranovich.
It was reportedly the first time a Western troll network has been fingered by the Menlo Park behemoth, which until now focused primarily on politically-driven hunts for Russian meddling.
French, Russian trolls face off over Central African Republic election, says Facebook
Weâre sorry, this service is currently unavailable. Please try again later.
Dismiss
French, Russian trolls face off over Central African Republic election, says Facebook
December 16, 2020 â 9.08am
Save
Normal text size
Advertisement
London: Rival French and Russian disinformation campaigns have sought to deceive internet users â and unmask each other â in the Central African Republic ahead of a December 27 presidential and parliamentary election, Facebook said on Tuesday, local time.
Facebook said it was the first time it had seen such a direct battle of the trolls by competing foreign states on its platforms, with the rivals fake accounts denouncing each other as fake news .
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary
French and Russian trolls fight fake news war in Africa ahead of CAR election
The French military has been linked to the influence operation by Facebook researchers
Elections, where Faustin-Archange Touadéra is standing for re-elelction, have been targeted by foreign disinformation campaigns
Credit: AFP
French and Russian trolls have been caught fighting a disinformation war against Facebook users in the Central African Republic in an effort to spread propaganda ahead of elections this month.
Trolls from two separate influence operations, including individuals said to be linked to the French military, posed as locals using fake accounts. Others set up fake pages set up to look like news organisations and aid organisations, Facebook said.