Facebook removes fake accounts targeting Chinese speakers

• Facebook's head of security policy Nathaniel Gleicher wrote that the company removed two networks that engaged in coordinated activity "on behalf of a government or foreign actor."

Details: The social media giant said that each network had different origins and targeted different groups.

• One network was active in the country of Georgia, which shares its northern border with Russia. It targeted domestic Georgian audiences.
• A second network originated in Vietnam and the United States, and targeted those countries, as well as Chinese- and Spanish-speaking audiences around the world.
• The accounts and pages included "impersonations" of media outlets, political parties and groups, as well as public figures.

Background: Facebook has come under fire for its failure to prevent the spread of targeted disinformation during the 2016 U.S. election, as well as similar state-coordinated disinformation campaigns in other countries.

• There is growing concern that the Chinese government is using U.S.-based social media platforms to shape opinion abroad, particularly among the Chinese diaspora.
• In September, Twitter announced that it removed thousands of accounts that had participated in a coordinated campaign, originating in China, to attack Hong Kong protesters and spread Chinese government propaganda related to the protests.

What they're saying:

• "We’re taking down these Pages, Groups and accounts based on their behavior, not the content they posted," wrote Gleicher.

• "In each of these cases, the people behind this activity coordinated with one another and used fake accounts to misrepresent themselves, and that was the basis for our action."

Go deeper:

• We live in a "fake" world
• Facebook removes fake accounts linked to Russian news outlet Sputnik