Meta removes 50 FB accounts, 98 pages linked to AL, CRI

Meta recently removed at least 50 Facebook accounts and 98 pages linked to the Awami League and the Centre for Research and Information (CRI) for "coordinated inauthentic behaviour".

In its Adversarial Threat Report on the first quarter of 2024, it said, "Some of these Pages posed as fictitious news entities and some used names of existing news organisations in Bangladesh. A few Pages used the Bangladesh Nationalist Party [BNP] in their name and posted anti-BNP content,"

The report, which was prepared as part of Meta's routine operations on public threat reporting, was uploaded on Wednesday.

"We view coordinated inauthentic behaviour as coordinated efforts to manipulate public debate for a strategic goal, in which fake accounts are central to the operation," the report said.

"In each case, people coordinated with one another and used fake accounts to mislead others about who they are and what they are doing."

It further stated that when Meta carries out an investigation, it focuses on behaviour and not content, "no matter who's behind them, what they post or whether they're foreign or domestic".

In the first quarter of this year, Meta "disrupted" six covert influence operations in Bangladesh, China, Croatia, Iran, Israel, and Moldova and Madagascar combined.

Concerning Bangladesh, the report stated that it conducted an internal investigation into "spammy inauthentic amplification activity in the region".

"Although the people behind it attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, our investigation found links to individuals associated with the Awami League party and CRI, a non-profit in Bangladesh."

It said that about 3.4 million Facebook accounts followed one or more of these pages.

"The network posted primarily in Bengali and also in English about news and current events in Bangladesh, including elections, criticism of the BNP, allegations of BNP's corruption and its role in pre-election violence, as well as supportive commentary about the incumbent government, the ruling party, and its role in the technological development of Bangladesh," the report said.