Facebook says it has taken down a massive Israeli influence operation targeting voters in Africa. The campaign comprised 265 Facebook and Instagram accounts, Facebook Pages, Groups and events that engaged in “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” orchestrated by Israeli lobbying firm Archimedes Group. The campaign had accumulated around 2.8 million followers on the social media platforms.
According to Facebook, “[t]he people behind this network used fake accounts to run Pages, disseminate their content and artificially increase engagement. They also represented themselves as locals, including local news organizations, and published allegedly leaked information about politicians.” The election meddling efforts mainly focused on Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Angola, Niger and Tunisia.
