Facebook parent company Meta said Tuesday it took down a network of fake accounts from China that attempted to interfere in American politics ahead of this November’s midterm elections.
Meta said the Chinese operation set up fake accounts posing as Americans, attacking politicians from both parties and posting inflammatory material about divisive issues such as abortion and gun rights.
The network was small — just 84 Facebook accounts — and did not have a chance to develop much of an audience, Meta said in a report released Tuesday.
“What this operation was doing was targeting U.S. domestic politics, targeting both sides,” said Ben Nimmo, Meta’s head of threat intelligence. “And it’s the first time we’ve seen that from a Chinese operation in this way. So even though it was small, even though we caught it early, it’s a significant change in what we’ve seen from Chinese operations.”
The announcement comes amid growing concerns about Facebook's commitment to fighting misinformation and election interference. The New York Times reported in June that the company's core election team was disbanded, and the company has remained relatively quiet about its election efforts.
And despite the ongoing threat of foreign election interference, many misinformation experts now say homegrown disinformation campaigns pose a great threat.
The Meta report did not attribute the network to Chinese intelligence agencies, but said the postings were produced by people working on a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule in China.
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