According to Meta, it happened as part of a larger disinformation campaign. The network operated through accounts on Facebook, Youtube, Telegram and Twitter, where it shared “inflammatory” content about political issues in Europe and the United States.
In connection with Meta’s investigation, the company has deleted over 100 Facebook pages, profiles and Instagram accounts with connections to the network. Another 50 accounts linked to another China-based network have also been removed, according to Meta.
“These latest networks experimented with a range of tactics that we have not seen in China-based operations before,” Meta said in a quarterly report.
Large parts of the networks are said to still operate in social media. An account named in Meta’s report shared content targeting migrants in Europe and LGBTQ activists as recently as late April. In a Twitter post last August, the account’s owner was looking for “part-time workers” to attend a Hungarian protest against philanthropist George Soros, who is often the target of far-right conspiracy theories.
Among the content shared by accounts linked to the network were posts advocating Beijing’s policies in Xinjiang, where human rights groups have long accused authorities of holding more than a million Uyghurs in so-called re-education camps. Other posts focused on police brutality, crime and LGBT rights.