Hong Kong. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced that it has dismantled a major China-based disinformation network disseminating content on sensitive political issues in Europe and the United States.
Meta, in a quarterly report on threats released yesterday, claimed to have removed more than 100 Facebook pages, Instagram profiles and accounts linked to this disinformation network, which also operates on other platforms such as YouTube, Telegram and Twitter.
They also removed another 50 accounts linked to another China-based network, the US company said.
“These latest networks have experimented with a number of tactics we have never seen before in China-based operations,” the report states.
“Recent behaviors include setting up a front media company in the West, hiring freelance writers around the world, and co-opting an NGO in Africa,” he added.
The messages broadcast range from Europe-focused content, topics that divide the United States such as police violence, crime and LGBT+ rights, to posts defending Beijing’s position on its policy in the western region of Xinjiang, where activists they accuse the authorities of detaining more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims in forced re-education camps.
