Meta shut down thousands of fake Facebook accounts primed to divide voters ahead of 2024

Someone in China created thousands of fake Meta social media accounts designed to appear to be from Americans and used them to spread polarising political content.

Someone in China created thousands of fake social media accounts designed to appear to be from Americans and used them to spread polarising political content in an apparent effort to divide the U.S. ahead of next year's elections, Meta said Thursday.

The network of nearly 4,800 fake accounts was attempting to build an audience when it was identified and eliminated by the tech company, which owns Facebook and Instagram. The accounts sported fake photos, names and locations as a way to appear like everyday American Facebook users weighing in on political issues.

Instead of spreading fake content as other networks have done, the accounts were used to reshare posts from X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that were created by politicians, news outlets and others. The interconnected accounts pulled content from both liberal and conservative sources, an indication that its goal was not to support one side or the other but to exaggerate partisan divisions and further inflame polarisation.

The newly identified network shows how America's foreign adversaries exploit U.S.-based tech platforms to sow discord and distrust, and it hints at the serious threats posed by online disinformation next year, when national elections will occur in the U.S., India, Mexico, Ukraine, Pakistan, Taiwan and other nations.

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“These networks still struggle to build audiences, but they're a warning," said Ben Nimmo, who leads investigations into inauthentic behaviour on Meta's platforms. "Foreign threat actors are attempting to reach people across the internet ahead of next year's elections, and we need to remain alert."

Meta Platforms Inc., based in Menlo Park, California, couldn't definitively link the Chinese network to the Chinese government, but it did determine the network originated in that country. The content spread by the accounts complements Chinese government propaganda and disinformation that has sought to inflate partisan and ideological divisions within the U.S.