The Great Facebook Purge What was Removed and Why?
24 December, 2019
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On 20 December 2019, Facebook removed 418 Georgian assets (39 profiles, 344 pages, 13 groups and 22 Instagram accounts) on its core platform for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behaviour. In accordance with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, which cooperates with Facebook and provides information in regard to disinformation campaigns, these pages were spreading posts with a strong anti-American content. Based on Facebook’s statement, although the people behind these assets attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, Facebook’s investigation linked this activity to Panda, an advertising agency in Georgia, and the Georgian Dream-led government. These pages have spent nearly USD 316,000 for advertisements on Facebook and Instagram; that is, for sponsoring their posts.
Author: Mariam Tsitsikashvili
