Fake accounts removed from Facebook and Instagram, including Black support for Trump
More than 100 accounts were removed from Facebook and Instagram Thursday for posing as Americans posting about support for President Donald Trump from Black Americans, QAnon, the election and other subjects.
Facebook says the accounts violated its policy on foreign interference, “which is coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign entity.”
The activity originated out of Romania, Facebook said in a report.
The news was first reported by NBC.
Thirty-five Facebook accounts, three Facebook pages and 88 Instagram accounts were removed.
“This network posted about U.S. domestic news and events, including the upcoming November election, the Trump campaign and support for the campaign by African Americans, conservative ideology, Christian beliefs, and QAnon. They also frequently reposted stories by American conservative news networks and the Trump campaign,” Facebook said.
QAnon is a conspiracy theory about “the deep state” popular among “a range of right-wing extremists and even some public supporters of President Trump,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Believers “tout sexist, racist, xenophobic and antisemitic ideas,” McClatchy News previously reported.
When questioned by McClatchy News, a spokeswoman for Facebook referenced back to the published report and said “only a handful of accounts on our platforms” posed as Black Trump supporters but said they are unable to determine exactly how many.
About 1,600 other accounts followed at least one of the Facebook pages and 7,200 followed at least one of the Instagram accounts, Facebook says.
The report included examples of accounts removed: an Instagram account called “blackpeoplevotefortrump,” and a Facebook account called “We Love Our President.”
Fake social media accounts were also an issue during the 2016 election.
Twitter found that 50,000 automated accounts, or bots, had ties to Russia and sent more than 2 million tweets related to the election between Sept. 1 and Nov. 15, CNN reported in 2018.
A 2018 report also found that the Russian firm Internet Research Agency, which was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with interference during the 2016 campaign, interacted with millions of American voters via Facebook, Instagram and YouTube and “extensively” targeted Black Americans, Business Insider reported.
“Blacktivist” — a Facebook page that garnered more than 1.4 million reactions from users — was an example of such an account and in some instances encouraged Black Americans not to vote, Businesses Insider reported.
