Facebook removes several Pakistan-based fake accounts attacking India with misinformation

Facebook said that it has removed 453 Facebook accounts, 103 Pages, 78 Groups, and 107 Instagram accounts operated from Pakistan on the basis of coordinated inauthentic behaviour detected on its platform. These accounts were used to spread misinformation in India.

“The people behind this network relied on fake accounts — some claiming to be based in India — to post content and manage a handful of Indian military fan Pages and Groups,” Facebook said. 

The vast majority of the accounts, pages, and groups engaged in coordinated reporting of content and people that were critical of Pakistan’s government or supportive of India, and some engaged in spam. They also used a browser extension to automate reporting. 

These accounts posted primarily in English and Hindi about regional news and current events including memes and content about social and political issues in Pakistan and India, such as India’s policies toward China, the Indian military, criticism of the Indian government, and its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

About 70,000 accounts followed one or more of these pages, about 1.1 million accounts joined one or more of these Groups and less than 11,000 accounts followed one or more of these Instagram accounts.

The company, in its detailed report, shared samples of misinformation posted by these pages and accounts on Facebook.

"We are making progress rooting out this abuse, but as we’ve said before, it’s an ongoing effort. We’re committed to continually improving to stay ahead. That means building better technology, hiring more people and working closely with law enforcement, security experts and other companies," Facebook said.