Meta Removes 7,500+ China Facebook Accounts

Thousands of Facebook accounts and a number of Instagram accounts have been removed by parent company Meta in an effort to disrupt a Chinese influence campaign, which generated a network to spread positive commentary about China’s law enforcement and disinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report Tuesday by Meta.

Forbes reports Meta removed 7,704 Facebook accounts, 954 Facebook pages, 15 Facebook groups and 15 Instagram accounts linked to an influence campaign that targeted the U.S., Taiwan, the U.K. and other countries, Meta reported Tuesday.

The network—referred to by Meta as “Spamouflage”—was first identified by Meta in 2019 and allegedly originated within Chinese law enforcement, though it expanded over the last four years as more accounts were identified by the company.

Hundreds of accounts across other platforms—including TikTok, X, LiveJournal and Blogspot, among others—also participated in the campaign, Meta said, which posted positive commentary about China’s Xinjiang province—where the Chinese government detained its Uyghur population—and criticisms of the U.S., Western foreign policies and critics of the Chinese government, including journalists and researchers.

The network also attempted to spread false claims that the U.S. was where Covid-19 originated, and included a 66-page “research paper” that was “remarkable for its errors,” according to Meta.

The Facebook pages amassed an estimated 560,000 followers, though Meta indicated the accounts were likely spam accounts purchased from Vietnam, Bangladesh or Brazil.

The Chinese influence campaign is the seventh that Meta has removed over the last six years, including four over the last year, according to the company. Meta said last year it had discovered a Chinese campaign to interfere in U.S. politics ahead of midterm elections, including posts from fake accounts posing as conservative Americans that promoted gun rights and opposition to abortion rights.