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Galraedia

(5,020 posts) Thu Aug 6, 2020, 03:03 PM Aug 2020

Facebook removes troll farm posing as African-American support for Donald Trump

Source: NBC News

Facebook removed hundreds of accounts on Thursday from a foreign troll farm posing as African-Americans in support of Donald Trump and QAnon supporters. It also removed thousands of fake accounts linked to conservative media outlet The Epoch Times that pushed pro-Trump conspiracy theories about coronavirus and protests in the U.S.

Facebook took down the accounts as part of its enforcement against coordinated inauthentic behavior, which is the use of fake accounts to inflate the reach of content or products on social media.

The foreign pro-Trump troll farm was based in Romania and pushed content on Instagram under names like “BlackPeopleVoteForTrump” and on Facebook under “We Love Our President.”

Troll farms — groups of people that work together to manipulate internet discourse with fake accounts — are often outsourced and purchased by foreign governments or businesses to push specific political talking points. Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of security policy, said the troll farm’s motivations were unclear, but they didn’t see “clear evidence of financial motivation” or “clear links to known commercial actors in this space.”

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-removes-troll-farm-posing-african-american-support-donald-trump-n1236056?

13 replies

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Highlight:

Facebook removes troll farm posing as African-American support for Donald Trump (Original Post) Galraedia Aug 2020 OP

Finally! Me. Aug 2020 #1

LOL. "said the troll farm's motivations were unclear" PSPS Aug 2020 #2

GTFOH Romanian Trolls.. We hate the MF... it's our Counrty Cha Aug 2020 #3

The "Epoch Times" nonsense pisses me off.. stillcool Aug 2020 #4

Yes!! First thing I noticed: Epoch Times. Grins Aug 2020 #7

epoch times has got to go. i bet putin/russia has their hands in it. n/t garybeck Aug 2020 #9

Four years too late... but good they're finally doing something. tinrobot Aug 2020 #5

This sounds similar to the Russian Troll Farms CNN busted in April that was operating in Ghana Mike 03 Aug 2020 #6

Sorry I don't trust Facebook at all seta1950 Aug 2020 #8

Good step, but Facebook still sucks nt Fiendish Thingy Aug 2020 #10

looks like the advertising boycott is having an effect RussBLib Aug 2020 #11

That's a good start Hekate Aug 2020 #12

I don't Fascist Book. AZ8theist Aug 2020 #13

Me.

(35,454 posts)

1. Finally!

Reply to Galraedia (Original post)

Thu Aug 6, 2020, 03:05 PM

Aug 2020

Can they also remove Kanye from the race...

PSPS

(13,579 posts)

2. LOL. "said the troll farm's motivations were unclear"

Reply to Galraedia (Original post)

Thu Aug 6, 2020, 03:12 PM

Aug 2020

Cha

(296,846 posts)

3. GTFOH Romanian Trolls.. We hate the MF... it's our Counrty

Reply to Galraedia (Original post)

Thu Aug 6, 2020, 03:13 PM

Aug 2020

Not yours. you Trolled Poorly.

stillcool

(32,626 posts)

4. The "Epoch Times" nonsense pisses me off..

Reply to Galraedia (Original post)

Thu Aug 6, 2020, 03:18 PM

Aug 2020

I see it on youtube way too often. Doesn't seem to matter what I'm watching, as it rarely has anything to do with politics...No place is safe.

Grins

(7,195 posts)

7. Yes!! First thing I noticed: Epoch Times.

Reply to stillcool (Reply #4)

Thu Aug 6, 2020, 04:11 PM

Aug 2020

Another foreign crackpot CULT that gets and spends millions of dollars promoting Reich-wing nuts like Trump.

garybeck

(9,939 posts)

9. epoch times has got to go. i bet putin/russia has their hands in it. n/t

Reply to stillcool (Reply #4)

Thu Aug 6, 2020, 04:41 PM

Aug 2020

tinrobot

(10,885 posts)

5. Four years too late... but good they're finally doing something.

Reply to Galraedia (Original post)

Thu Aug 6, 2020, 03:29 PM

Aug 2020

Mike 03

(16,616 posts)

6. This sounds similar to the Russian Troll Farms CNN busted in April that was operating in Ghana

Reply to Galraedia (Original post)

Thu Aug 6, 2020, 03:37 PM

Aug 2020

stirring up racial resentment and presenting themselves as Black Lives Matter.

CNN worked with two Clemson University professors -- Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren -- in tracking the Ghanaian operation. Linvill said the campaign was straight out of the Russian playbook, trying to mask its efforts among groups in the US.

"They were very closely engaged in the Black Lives Matter community," he said. "They talked almost exclusively about what was happening on the streets of the United States and not on the streets of Africa."

Kailee Scales, managing director of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, said her organization was proactive when it came to protecting its voice online. "We are walking into the 2020 election cycle with eyes wide open to the fact that international and domestic actors are striving to undermine our organizing, and we are not going to let that happen," she told CNN.

Russian election meddling is back -- via Ghana and Nigeria -- and in your feeds

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/world/russia-ghana-troll-farms-2020-ward/index.html