Misleading information on Facebook, ‘affiliation’ with ruling party
The Meta has removed 50 Facebook accounts and 98 pages on allegations of spreading misleading information about the opposition. These accounts were being used to spread misleading information against the leaders and activists of BNP, the political rival of ruling Awami League.
This came up in Meta Quarterly Adversarial Threat Report 2024. The report published on 29 May highlights 'coordinated in-authentic behaviours’.
Co-ordinated unauthentic behaviour mean coordinated efforts to mislead people by spreading false or misleading information using fake accounts to achieve some vested goals. People running these pages work in collaboration with each other.
Meta didn’t mention how the people behind the fake accounts and pages are involved with the Awami League and the CRI (Centre for Research and Information. There is no specific evidence against the reasons that they cited. The report is contradictoryMohammad Ali Arafat, state minister for information and broadcasting
Meta says although the people behind it attempted to conceal their identity and coordination, it found links to individuals associated with the Awami League and Center for Research and Information (CRI) during investigation.
However, speaking regarding the Meta Quarterly Adversarial Threat Report, state minister for information and broadcasting, Mohammad Ali Arafat told Prothom Alo, “Meta didn’t mention how the people behind the fake accounts and pages are involved with the Awami League and the CRI (Centre for Research and Information (CRI). There is no specific evidence against the reasons that they brought up. The report is contradictory. It’s natural for Awami League supporters to speak about the corruption of the BNP. However, Meta didn’t make it clear as to exactly which of this information was not true.”
He further said, “What about the propagandas of BNP and Jamaat? Didn’t Meta find that? This is not a Meta report. The BNP-Jamaat activists are behind this. A vested quarter might have sent this to Meta. Meta should launch an investigation on this. As a state minister of the Awami League government, I stand against all sorts of disinformation and rumours.”
The Meta report states the network posted primarily in Bengali and also in English about news and current events in Bangladesh, including elections, criticism of the BNP, allegations of BNP’s corruption and its role in pre-election violence, as well as supportive commentary about the incumbent government, the ruling party and its role in the technological development of Bangladesh.
Meta says although the people behind it attempted to conceal their identity and coordination, it found links to individuals associated with the Awami League and Center for Research and Information (CRI) during investigation
It further said that Meta has removed 50 accounts on Facebook and 98 pages for violating its policy against coordinated inauthentic behaviour. This network originated in Bangladesh and targeted domestic audiences. These fake accounts and pages have more than 34 million followers. They even advertised on Facebook for publicity.
The Meta report says the people behind this activity used fake accounts, some of which were detected and disabled by Meta’s automated systems prior to the investigation. A few Pages used the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in their name and posted anti-BNP content.
According to the Meta report, many of these pages had a corresponding presence across several platforms, including YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and Telegram, in addition to their own websites.
Meta has also mentioned several such websites, including dhakatv.net, bdpolitico.com, bdpolitico.org, banglanewsbank.com, bdperspectives.com, bangladeshtimes360.com, londonbanglanews.com, bdanalytics.com and bnpnews.net.
The two associated X accounts are - BD Politico (x.com/bd_politico), and Tonmoy Ahmed (x.com/tonmoybuet). The associated telegram channel is - BNP Para (t.me/bnppara).
The YouTube channels mentioned by the Meta are - Dhaka Television, BNP Para, BD Politico, BNP Nama and Bangla Politics. The two associated TikTok accounts under this network are BNP Para and BNP News BD.
Meta might use their own algorithm to find out the people behind the fake accounts. However, they don’t have any political or social motive behind this. The ruling quarters are always far ahead of the opposition in case of these sorts (spreading misleading information) of publicity across the worldSumon Rahman, profession MSJ Department, ULAB
The X account mentioned by the Meta named Tonmoy Ahmed (x.com/tonmoybuet) is run by Awami League web team coordinator Tonmoy Ahmed.
Speaking regarding the allegations of being involved in the network of co-ordinated in-authentic behaviours, Tonmoy Ahmed told Prothom Alo, “The Meta report is politically motivated and biassed.”
Meta also removed accounts in 2018
This is not the first time. The mother company of Facebook also removed some accounts and pages in 2018 ahead of the 11th national polls. Facebook removed nine pages and six accounts on 20 December that year. Those accounts were used to spread post news in favour of the government undermining the opposition parties. Meta investigated that the people running these pages and accounts were affiliated with the government.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, professor Sumon Rahman of the Media Studies and Journalism Department at University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) said, “Meta might use their own algorithm to find out the people behind the fake accounts. However, they don’t have any political or social motive behind this. The ruling quarters are always far ahead of the opposition in case of these sorts (spreading misleading information) of publicity across the world.”
*This report appeared on the print and online versions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ashish Basu