Facebook announced that it had removed a network of fake Facebook and Instagram accounts linked to individuals linked to the French military, accusing it of waging a cyber campaign to influence African countries.
The French newspaper “L'opinion” reported that the French authorities are launching campaigns to influence public opinion through social networks, in countries where the French army is operating.
Facebook stated in a statement that it had deleted a network of accounts on Facebook of individuals associated with the French army, and two other networks connected to the Russian Internet Research Agency, for their "false coordinated behavior" targeting citizens of many African countries, which violates Facebook's policy.
The social media giant added that for the first time, it discovered that the French pseudo-network and the two Russian networks interacted with each other by requesting friendship, commenting, answering and criticizing each other.
Target countries
Facebook said on its website that it had deleted 84 Facebook accounts, 6 pages, 9 groups, and 14 Instagram accounts, as part of a network practicing fake activity in France, targeting primarily the Central African Republic and Mali, and to a lesser extent Niger, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Côte d'Ivoire and Chad.
The American company explained that the owners of this activity tried to appear as local citizens in the countries they targeted, but Facebook teams' investigations have found links to these fake accounts with individuals linked to the French army.
An Israeli company uses fake accounts on Facebook and Instagram to target elections in African countries, including Tunisia .. For whom did the company work?
pic.twitter.com/FRWsOWNYum
- Al-Jazeera (@Arabic) May 17, 2019
Facebook stated that some of the posts published by the French Network were in Arabic and French, and were related to Paris policy in French-speaking African countries, and to support the intervention of the French army in some African countries.
French newspaper
Commenting on Facebook's link between fake accounts networks and the French army, the French newspaper "Le Pignon" said in a report that such behaviors were commonplace issued by Russia, pointing out that the mistake is now on France, specifically its army.
The newspaper added that it addressed a question to the French Ministry of Armies, which focused in its response "on the need to confront the disinformation campaign carried out by some parties," which it did not name. However, the ministry did not deny what Facebook mentioned about fake accounts of individuals linked to the French army.
Regarding the activity of the two Russian networks, the social media giant explained that it had removed 63 Facebook accounts, 29 pages, 7 groups and one account on Instagram, adding that these fake accounts originated in Russia and focused on the Central African Republic in the first place, and to a lesser extent on Madagascar, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Mozambique And South Africa.
And Facebook added that these accounts relied on local citizens from the Central African Republic and South Africa, and used a mixture of fake and hacked accounts.