Wed 16 December 2020:
Facebook announced Tuesday it has removed hundreds of accounts linked to rival French and Russian networks that sought to sway public opinion in Africa.
Facebook said it was the first time it had seen foreign influence operations directly engage on its platforms, with fake accounts denouncing each other as “fake news”.
The company said it had suspended three networks totaling almost 500 accounts and pages for “coordinated inauthentic behavior”. One network was linked to “individuals associated with French military”, it said, while the other two had connections to “individuals associated with past activity by the Russian Internet Research Agency” as well as the Russian businessman Evgeny Prigozhin.
The networks’ campaigns largely focused on the Central African Republic, ahead of its elections later this month, as well as other African nations including Mali, Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Libya.
In Libya, a Russian network posted information “supportive commentary about Khalifa Haftar, head of the Libyan National Army, the Libyan army, and Saif Islam Gaddafi; and criticism of Turkey, Muslim Brotherhood, the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord and the peace talks at the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in Tunisia,” Facebook said.
France and Russia are both keen to assert influence in Africa. Paris has ties with many French-speaking African countries, which it sees as vital to preventing the spread of violent Islamisation, and Moscow is jockeying for position in a lucrative market.
Ben Nimmo, the head of investigations at social media analytics firm Graphika, said both campaigns used fake accounts to pose as local people, sometimes sharing doctored photos.
The French effort started in mid-2019 and pushed pro-French messages before targeting “Russian fake news” following Facebook’s suspension of a Russian-linked disinformation campaign in Africa in October last year.
The subsequent Russian operation attempted to promote Russian business and diplomatic interests, as well as the candidacy of President Faustin-Archange Touadera in the election, he said. Later, the Russian accounts tried to out the French accounts that were trying to out them.
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