Meta Deletes Dozens of Accounts Associated with Georgian Government
Meta has suspended 80 Facebook accounts, 26 pages, 9 groups and 2 Instagram accounts associated with the Georgian Government’s Department of Strategic Communications for “coordinated inauthentic behavior”, as written in Meta’s quarterly report. According to the report this network targeted multiple apps including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok originated in Georgia and focused on domestic audience.
“The people behind this activity relied on fake accounts to run fictitious personas, manage Groups and Pages, post, comment and like their content to make it appear more popular than it was”- reads the report.
It further notes that: “these pages and groups purported to be local, independent, pro-government grassroots groups. The network operated around the clock to amplify content in support of the current Georgian Government Pages including re-sharing posts by the official government Pages and pro-government reports.”
The report states that the accounts also shared criticisms of the opposition, particularly during the most recent public protests rallies opposing the “foreign agents” law. The report notes: “In fact, this operation responded to protest developments in real time, including posting in the middle of the night”.
“Although the people behind this operation attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, our investigation found links to the Strategic Communications Department of the Government Administration of Georgia”- says the report.
According to Meta, about $33,500 was spent on content advertising on Facebook and Instagram.
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