Facebook Axes Fake Accounts Claiming To Represent Black Support For Trump
Facebook has removed several accounts purporting to represent African American support for President Donald Trump, the company revealed Thursday.
It also wiped out hundreds of fake accounts linked to the right-wing media operation The Epoch Times that peddled pro-Trump conspiracy theories about Covid-19 and anti-racism protests.
The fake African American accounts were pushed out by a toll farm in Romania onto Facebook and Instagram targeting the US ahead of the presidential election. The accounts used names like “We Love Our President” on Facebook, and “BlackPeopleVoteForTrump” on Instagram.
Facebook said the fake network’s posts featured US news, including the upcoming election, the “Trump campaign and support for the campaign by African Americans,” as well as support for conservative ideology, Christian beliefs and QAnon.
Facebook removed 35 Facebook accounts, three pages and 88 Instagram accounts in the crackdown, which the company said was part of its ongoing action against “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” during the presidential campaign.
In a separate troll farm operation tied to pro-Trump media organization Epoch Media Group, Facebook eliminated 303 Facebook accounts, 181 pages, 44 Facebook groups and 31 Instagram accounts followed by more than 2 million people in largely English and Chinese-speaking countries and Vietnam.
Epoch Media Group is the parent company of the newspaper The Epoch Times. The accounts were tied to the digital media outlet TruthMedia, which has been banned from Facebook.
Stephen Gregory, the publisher of The Epoch Times’ English-language editions, denied to NBC News that the company was associated with TruthMedia.
Facebook last year jettisoned nearly 700 fake accounts using deep-fake profile photos that pushed Epoch Times stories and issues. The network had an international following of some 55 million people.
Facebook also banned The Epoch Times from advertising last year after it purchased space under account...
