Facebook cleansed more than 30 accounts that claimed to be Black Trump supporters but were actually part of a troll farm, The Verge reports.
According to Facebook's July enforcement activity, the company removed 35 Facebook accounts, three pages, and 88 Instagram accounts for "violating our policy against foreign interference, which is coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign entity." Some of these accounts promoted pro-Trump rhetoric under the guise of being Black originated in Romania.
Facebook says these pages and profiles would post using hashtags like "BlackPeopleVoteForTrump" on Facebook and Instagram. Altogether, the Facebook pages had 1,600 followers and close to 7,200 people followed the various Instagram accounts.
"The people behind this network used fake accounts — some of which had already been detected and disabled by our automated systems — to pose as Americans, amplify and comment on their own content, and manage Pages including some posing as President Trump fan Pages," Facebook's report reads. "This network posted about US domestic news and events, including the upcoming November election, the Trump campaign and support for the campaign by African Americans, conservative ideology, Christian beliefs, and Qanon. They also frequently reposted stories by American conservative news networks and the Trump campaign."
Facebook also removed accounts connected to Epoch Media Group. The Epoch Media Group was using the accounts to spread false information about the coronavirus and the network included 303 Facebook accounts, 181 pages, 44 Facebook groups, and 31 Instagram accounts for a combined 2 million followers. The Epoch Media Group is also linked to TruthMedia, which was banned from the site for pushing conspiracy theories and misinformation about the current pandemic.
