Meta Shuts Down Thousands Of ‘Fake China-Based Accounts’

‘The users posed as Americans and sought to spread polarising content about US politics and US-China relations.’

Meta Shuts Down Thousands Of ‘Fake China-Based Accounts’

Meta claims to have just deleted a network of thousands of false and deceptive accounts originating in China.

The individuals pretended to be Americans and attempted to promote divisive information regarding US politics and US-China ties.

Abortion, culture war concerns, and helping Ukraine were among the themes covered by the network.

The identities were not linked to Beijing authorities, but there has been a rise in such networks headquartered in China ahead of the 2024 US elections.

According to the company, China is now the third-largest geographical source of such networks, after only Russia and Iran.

The latest takedowns were included in the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp's quarterly threat report, which was issued on Thursday.

The China-based network has over 4,700 accounts and cloned profile images and identities from other individuals all throughout the world.

The identities liked and shared each other's tweets, and some of the content looked to be straight copied from X, previously Twitter.

In some cases, the accounts copied and duplicated exact messages from Republican and Democratic US leaders, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Reps. Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan, and others.

The network lacked ideological coherence.