Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram shut down what is believed to be a propaganda operation targeting China, Iran and Russia from the United States, according to Vice News.
Researchers from the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO), who coordinated with the private research company Graphika, said that the operation had been going on since 2017.
“These findings unveil what we believe are the first major covert pro-America and Western operations identified and suspended by Twitter and Meta,” said one of the researcher who explored the efforts.
Vice News explained that the operation was remarkably similar to what the Russian government did in the 2016 election, using memes, petitions and fake news. Photos were altered by artificial intelligence, and hashtag operations using pro-US propaganda were all used to undermine the Russian government.
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Vice News also noted that the report showed tech companies were willing to take action against propaganda, even if it was by the United States. It just took them five years to do it.
The “joint investigation found an interconnected web of accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and five other social media platforms that used deceptive tactics to promote pro-Western narratives in the Middle East and Central Asia.”
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