Pakistan: Facebook removes network of accounts critical of government

Islamabad: Facebook has removed a network of accounts and pages being operated from Pakistan over alleged “coordinated inauthentic behaviour”, the social media giant announced. At least 453 Facebook accounts, 103 Pages, 78 groups and 107 Instagram accounts focused on Pakistan and India were deleted.

Facebook says it removes content for coordinated inauthentic behaviour (CIB) when it finds domestic, non-governmental campaigns that include groups of accounts and pages seeking to mislead people about their identity and activity while relying on fake accounts. CIB is viewed as “coordinated efforts to manipulate public debate for a strategic goal where fake accounts are central to the operation.”

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Facebook said that its internal investigation found that 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”.

The 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” the company said. The content posted primarily in English and Hindi focused on “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.”

Facebook reports that 70,000 accounts followed at least one of the pages and 1.1 million users belonged to the groups.

Mass Reporting

Facebook shared some details of the network with the Stanford Internet Observatory, which in its report found that the network engaged in “mass reporting” that it describes as the coordinated reporting of accounts ostensibly for violating a platform’s terms of service. The network used a browser extension called “Auto Reporter” to automate and expedite reporting, Stanford said.

“The network encouraged users to mass-report accounts that were critical of Islam and the Pakistani government, and in some cases accounts that were part of the Ahmadi religious community” the report said. Troll armies would push posts to groups and pages, encouraging users to report up to 80 profiles at a time, with tips on how to do so quickly, it added.

Battle of narratives

This is not the first time that Pakistan and India have been reportedly engaged in digital manipulation as the two have long sought to control the narrative against each other. In 2019, a Brussels-based NGO, EU Disinfo Lab, uncovered a global network 265 pro-Indian fake websites focused on anti-Pakistan content and aimed at influencing European policymakers. Social media that has emerged as a powerful new battleground for narratives is changing the dynamics of war for Pakistan and India – the two nuclear-armed rivals that have fought three wars.

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