Meta has removed thousands of Facebook and several Instagram accounts in an effort to disrupt a Chinese propaganda campaign.
Meta removed 7,704 Facebook accounts, 954 Pages, 15 Groups, and 15 Instagram accounts in total, making it one of the largest networks of fake accounts ever discovered by the company.
According to the tech giant, the fake accounts tried to spread pro-China messages, including "positive commentary about China and its province Xinjiang and criticisms of the US, Western foreign policies, and critics of the Chinese government including journalists and researchers".
"We recently took down thousands of accounts and Pages that were part of the largest known cross-platform covert influence operation in the world. It targeted more than 50 apps, including Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, Pinterest, Medium, Blogspot, LiveJournal, VKontakte, Vimeo, and dozens of smaller platforms and forums," Meta said in a blogpost on Tuesday.
Meta also confirmed that it discovered evidence linking the fake accounts to a previously known pro-China influence operation that first surfaced in 2019, dubbed as "Spamouflage".
Despite the size of the effort, Meta claimed that the people behind the fake accounts were not particularly skilled or successful in their efforts to go viral.
"Spamouflage consistently struggled to reach beyond its own (fake) echo chamber. Many comments on Spamouflage posts that we have observed came from other Spamoflauge accounts trying to make it look like they were more popular than they were," Meta said.
The company also mentioned that this network targeted many regions globally, including Taiwan, the US, Australia, the UK, Japan, and global Chinese-speaking audiences.
Meanwhile, Meta rolled out additional transparency features on Threads, including labelling state-controlled media and showing additional information about accounts so that people can know, for example, if accounts may have changed their names.
Gujarat: BJP’s Satish Patel dedicates Manjalpur bypoll victory to late Yogesh Patel
Newly elected Manjalpur MLA Satish Patel on Monday dedicated his victory in the Gujarat Assembly by-election to the late BJP leader and former minister Yogesh Patel, saying he would carry forward the work undertaken by his predecessor after securing a comfortable win in the constituency.
PK wins Bankipur, ends BJP's dominance; Samrat Choudhary congratulates him
Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor has registered a major victory in the Bankipur Assembly by-election, defeating BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha by a margin of 18,963 votes and breaking the BJP’s long-standing dominance over the constituency.
ANDPL to rejuvenate 40,000 trees within Dharavi, build 3.3-km Mithi River riverfront
In a bid to give residents better access to green public spaces, the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) will place the rejuvenation of the Mithi River at the centre of a new green-blue network — designed to improve the environment and create healthier spaces across one of Mumbai’s most densely-populated neighbourhoods, it was announced on Monday.
RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat to interact with Gen Z in Mumbai on Aug 6
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat is scheduled to interact with representatives of Generation Z and Generation Alpha on August 6 in Mumbai.
Two women among eight militants arrested in Manipur, arms and drugs seized
Eight militants, including two women cadres, belonging to different banned insurgent outfits were arrested and arms, ammunition and other incriminating materials recovered in separate joint security force operations across Manipur during the past 24 hours, officials said on Monday.
Tribal Welfare Minister orders probe into alleged irregularities at Ambedkar Girls' Hostel
Minister for Tribal Welfare, Bikash Debbarma, on Monday ordered a detailed inquiry into allegations of irregularities in the supply of food items at the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Memorial Girls' Hostel located on Jagannath Bari Road in Agartala.
Assam villages devastated by flood might have to be rebuilt: Sarma
Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Monday indicated that the state government may have to rebuild entire villages devastated by the recent floods in Upper Assam, saying the scale of destruction in Sivasagar and Charaideo districts has gone far beyond what can be addressed through immediate relief measures.
Google selects 20 AI-powered Indian startups under Play Accelerator programme
US-based tech giant Google on Monday announced the 2026 cohort of its Play Accelerator India programme, selecting 20 AI-powered startups across sectors such as education, healthcare, gaming, agriculture, finance, e-commerce, productivity, lifestyle and entertainment.