• Ar
  • Es
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Feature
  • Videos
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Feature
Videos
Infographs
In Pictures
  1. Home
  2. News
  3. US & Canada
  4. Meta discovers, confirms US-led military propaganda campaign
US & Canada

Meta discovers, confirms US-led military propaganda campaign

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 26 Nov 2022 16:45
  • 5 Shares

Pushing anti-Iran and anti-Russian narratives, the US-led media propaganda campaign has been confirmed by Meta.

  • Meta discovers, confirms US-led military propaganda campaign
    Army psyop graduates receive pins at the end of a field exercise reading "Persuade, Change, Influence." (US Army)

Meta has acknowledged that it has discovered numerous clusters of fake accounts and pages that were initially believed to be linked to individuals "associated with the US military," according to the company's latest adversarial threat report.

The report, published last week, writes “Although the people behind this operation attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, our investigation found links to individuals associated with the US military."

In total, Meta removed 39 Facebook and 26 Instagram accounts, in addition to 16 pages and 2 groups. The influence campaign was discovered earlier this week. The groups and accounts were removed for violating Facebook's policies regarding "coordinated inauthentic behavior."

The company announced that the large-scale operation stretched beyond just a few dozen accounts, and rather included even more internet platforms, including Twitter, YouTube, and Telegram. Even major Russian social media platforms, such as VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, were included in the operation.

The “majority of this operation’s posts had little to no engagement from authentic communities.”

The campaigns were largely aimed at countries such as Iran or Central Asia, where there is resistance to US foreign policy. 

An investigation by The Washington Post revealed that the Pentagon was forced to launch a “sweeping audit of how it conducts clandestine information warfare" after Meta's findings. 

Researchers at Graphika and the Standford Internet Observatory in August published a report about online networks that pushes "pro-Western", anti-Russian narratives. 

Read more: Anti-Russian propaganda bombards internet users

In September, a report by The Washington Post revealed that in 2020, Facebook and Twitter employees contacted the Pentagon to voice concerns regarding fake accounts they believed had ties with the US military.

Detecting accounts that Facebook and Twitter suspected to be part of the US military conducting psyops, the two social media giants took down about 150 fake profiles and media sites. Psy-ops are a war tactic used frequently by the US, which it has been accusing Russia of doing since 2020. 

At the time, the Biden administration repeatedly requested that the Pentagon provide more information regarding its psyop policies - or, 'online influence campaigns.'

In 2019, the US Congress gave the green light when it passed Section 1631, which allowed the military to conduct psyops as long as it does not infringe on the CIA's covert authority, knowing that the law exempts such activities from the oversight system. 

Read next: You're doing yourself a "disservice" following only Western media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Meta
  • US military
  • United States
  • Pentagon
  • +

Trending Now

All
Meta allows targeted hate speech when aligns with US foreign policy

Meta allows targeted hate speech, violence, but only against US rivals

Most Read

Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti (Getty Images)

Buzzfeed to use AI to write its articles after firing 180 employees

  • US & Canada
  • 27 Jan
Twitter headquarters is shown in San Francisco on Nov. 4, 2022 (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

FBI created dashboard to mislabel Twitter users as Russian bots

  • US & Canada
  • 27 Jan
The Russian-manufactured Marker 2 tank-striker (Military Review)

Russia reveals Marker 2 combat robots

  • Europe
  • 26 Jan
Russian troops entering Donetsk in March 2022 (Anadolu Agency)

Russian troops enter Vuhledar, block Ukrainian arms supply path

  • Europe
  • 26 Jan

Read this

All
demonstrators march in Place de la Republique during a rally in Paris, as workers go on strike over the French President's plan to raise the legal retirement age from 62 to 64. (AFP)
Europe

France braces for new strikes against Macron's pension 'reform'

  • Today
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a White House briefing (Bloomberg)
MENA

Iran calls out provocation by Blinken, will respond to 'aggressors'

  • Today
The funeral of Jana Zakarneh, a 16-year-old Palestinian girl who was shot by IOF in her family’s house. (Reuters)
Palestine

Report unmasks surge in Israeli barbarism against Palestinians

  • Today
Persons conscripted to the Ukrainian army seen here at one of the recruiting points in Kiev. (Sputnik)
Europe

Ukraine begins jailing draft dodgers: MP

  • Today
Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS