Facebook shuts down Russian network that targeted influencers to peddle anti-vax messages

Social media giant Facebook has removed a network of accounts from Russia that it linked to a marketing firm that aimed to enlist influencers to push anti-vaccine content about the COVID-19 jabs.

Influencers who caught onto the sham turned out to be the undoing of a deceitful influence campaign orchestrated by marketing firm Fazze in Russia, according to Facebook.

"The assumption was the influencers wouldn't do any of their own homework, but two did," Facebook global threat intelligence lead Ben Nimmo said while briefing journalists.

"It's really a warning, be careful when someone is trying to spoon-feed you a story. Do your own research."

The company's investigators called the campaign a "disinformation laundromat," creating misleading articles and petitions on forums like Reddit, Medium, and Change.org, and using fake accounts on platforms like Facebook and Instagram to amplify the content. 

Facebook said while the majority of the campaign fell flat, the crux of it appeared to be engaging with paid influencers and these posts attracted "some limited attention."

The California-based company said that in July it removed 65 accounts at the leading social network and 243 accounts at photo-centric Instagram that were linked to the campaign, and banned Fazze from its platform.

Fazze is a subsidiary of a AdNow, an advertising company registered in Britain, according to media reports.

The operation targeted primarily India and Latin America, but also took aim at the United States, as governments debated approving vaccines to fight the pandemic, according to Nimmo.

Late last year, the network of fake accounts tried to fuel a false meme that the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 would turn people into chimpanzees, Facebook reported.

After going quiet for five months, the organisers attacked the safety of the Pfizer vaccine and leaked what it billed as an AstraZeneca document stolen by hacking, Facebook said.

The campaign took advantage of online platforms including Reddit, Medium, Change.org, and Facebook, creating misleading articles and petitions then providing "influencers" with links, hashtags and more to spread vaccine misinformation, according to Nimmo.

"In effect, this campaign functioned as a cross-platform disinformation laundromat," Nimmo said.

Researchers have noted an increase both in "for-hire" influence campaigns and also in deceptive operations targeting real online personalities to deliver messages to these influencers' own ready-made audiences.

Facebook said it took down 65 Facebook accounts and 243 Instagram accounts as part of the Fazze-linked operation. It said 24,000 accounts followed one or more of the Instagram accounts. The company said questions about the campaign remained, such as who commissioned Fazze to run it.

Facebook also said in its Tuesday report it had in July removed a separate network in Myanmar, linked to individuals associated with the Myanmar military and targeting audiences in the country. It said the operation used duplicate and fake accounts, some posing as protesters and members of the opposition while others ran pro-military Facebook Pages.

The social network banned the Myanmar military from Facebook and Instagram in February, after the army seized power in a coup.

(With inputs from agencies)