Reuters :
Facebook Inc has announced it removed hundreds of pages, groups and accounts on its platforms for “coordinated inauthentic behavior” linked to three operations in Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Nigeria.
The operation in Indonesia involved a network of over 100 fake accounts on Facebook and Instagram posting content in English and Indonesian either in support or criticizing the West Papua independence movement, which is active in the country’s restive easternmost region of Papua.
“This was a network of pages designed to appear like local media organizations and advocacy organizations,” said David Agranovich, Facebook’s Global Lead for Threat Disruption.
He told Reuters that his team, which had been monitoring Indonesia in light of increasing tensions in Papua, had tracked the false accounts, which would disseminate content, buy ads, and drive people to other sites, to an Indonesian media firm called InsightID.
Reuters was not immediately able to reach the firm for comment.
There has been a spike in protests and unrest since late August in Papua, which suffered some of its worst bloodshed in decades in September, with 33 people killed and scores injured.
Facebook Inc has announced it removed hundreds of pages, groups and accounts on its platforms for “coordinated inauthentic behavior” linked to three operations in Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Nigeria.
The operation in Indonesia involved a network of over 100 fake accounts on Facebook and Instagram posting content in English and Indonesian either in support or criticizing the West Papua independence movement, which is active in the country’s restive easternmost region of Papua.
“This was a network of pages designed to appear like local media organizations and advocacy organizations,” said David Agranovich, Facebook’s Global Lead for Threat Disruption.
He told Reuters that his team, which had been monitoring Indonesia in light of increasing tensions in Papua, had tracked the false accounts, which would disseminate content, buy ads, and drive people to other sites, to an Indonesian media firm called InsightID.
Reuters was not immediately able to reach the firm for comment.
There has been a spike in protests and unrest since late August in Papua, which suffered some of its worst bloodshed in decades in September, with 33 people killed and scores injured.
