By Newley Purnell
NEW DELHI -- Facebook Inc. said it has taken down hundreds of
pages and accounts that it said were working together to spread
misleading content or spam ahead of elections in India set to begin
April 11.
The company said those it had removed included accounts it
traced to employees of the Pakistani military's public relations
wing and others linked to the opposition Indian National Congress
party.
Facebook has more than 200 million users in India, one of its
largest global markets, where inexpensive smartphones and mobile
data are bringing people into the internet economy. Viral fake news
has become rampant in India on Facebook's popular WhatsApp
messaging platform. The company has altered the app and taken other
steps to fight misinformation in the world's biggest democracy.
Facebook has been under scrutiny for the ways in which it can be
used to misinform citizens and exacerbate social divisions. The
Menlo Park, Calif. company says it is employing new technological
and other solutions to fight the problem.
In a blog post Monday, Facebook said it had removed 103 pages,
groups and accounts on its platform and its Instagram photo-sharing
service that it traced to employees of the Pakistani military's
public-relations wing.
The accounts were engaging in "coordinated inauthentic behavior"
that used fake accounts to run pages related to topics such as the
Pakistani military, the Indian government, and the troubled region
of Kashmir, wrote Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of
cybersecurity. The accounts had 2.8 million followers and the
individuals involved spent $1,100 in advertising running from May
2015 through December.
In one example Facebook provided, an account called "PakistaN
Army - the BEST" posted an image of a smoldering jet with the text
"Indian airforce has become a consistent failure which is evident
from current embarrassment for India."
The public-relations wing, Inter Services Public Relations,
didn't respond to a request for comment. A Pakistani security
official said that ISPR was being targeted after what he called its
successes in presenting Pakistan's side in the military clashes
with India in February.
"We were expecting something like this, to malign ISPR," said
the official. "We know how Western institutions work."
Facebook said it also had removed 687 pages and accounts linked
to the opposition Indian National Congress party. The users
employed face accounts and "joined various Groups to disseminate
their content and increase engagement on their own Pages," wrote
Mr. Gleicher. They posted about the coming elections and criticized
political rivals such as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Congress party wrote on its official Twitter account Monday
that no official pages run by the party had been taken down.
"Additionally, all pages run by our verified volunteers are also
unaffected," it said. "In the mean time, we are awaiting a response
from Facebook to provide us a list of all pages/accounts that they
have taken down."
A Congress party spokeswoman couldn't be reached for
comment.
The accounts had about 206,000 followers and individuals logged
some $39,000 in spending on Facebook ads, Facebook said. The ads
ran from August 2014 through this month.
Facebook said it also removed a network of unrelated accounts
connected to an Indian IT firm. The network spanned 15 pages,
groups and accounts that posted about local news and various
political parties. Those had amassed 2.6 million followers,
spending $70,000 for ads between June 2014 and February, Facebook
said.
"While we are making progress rooting out this abuse, as we've
said before, it's an ongoing challenge and we're committed to
continuously improving to stay ahead," Mr. Gleicher wrote.
In Indonesia, Facebook in February removed hundreds of accounts
linked to an online syndicate that had been accused of spreading
hate speech and misinformation. Nationwide elections there begin on
April 9.
In recent years, Pakistan's military public-relations wing, the
ISPR, has asserted itself more forcefully, experts say. It has
expanded its operations, raised its profile within the military and
the public, and moved into a new hub at military headquarters in
the city of Rawalpindi.
Pakistan's military frequently says the country is under attack
in an information war from enemies within and outside Pakistan. The
military has been accused by journalists of using intimidation and
targeting distribution channels and revenue sources to silence
critical reporting, allegations that it denies.
"These are propaganda accounts, trying to change people's
perceptions," said Nighat Dad, a digital-rights activist, of the
Facebook accounts. "It's to mainstream their narrative and suppress
critical voices."
Ms. Dad said such pro-military, hypernationalist accounts were
also often used to target women and minorities online in
Pakistan.
--Saeed Shah in Islamabad, Pakistan contributed to this
article.
Write to Newley Purnell at newley.purnell@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 01, 2019 11:33 ET (15:33 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024