Facebook knocks out fake account network used to propagate hate

The organised operation spanned both Facebook and Instagram and saw the creation of pages and groups designed to lure genuine members toward engaging in hate speech, fanning the flames of political discourse by antagonising all sides.

Between them, the pages drew around 175,000 followers on Facebook and a further 4,500 on Instagram, drawn to pages such as ‘Atheists Research Centre’; ‘Politicalised’ and ‘Anti-far Right Extremists’. These were found to have shared content from mainstream sources such as the BBC and the New York Times, enhancing their credibility, while also sharing their own content.

Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, commented: “We are constantly working to detect and stop this type of activity because we don’t want our services to be used to manipulate people. We’re taking down these pages and accounts based on their behaviour, not the content they posted. 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.”

Gleicher warns that the people behind the disinformation campaign were ‘determined and well-funded’, with Facebook having to constantly evolve to sat one step ahead of those seeking to subvert the platform.

Facebook has itself been dubbed a 'digital gangster' by the UK government by obstructing investigations into its own conduct.