HIGHLIGHTS

• Facebook has banned over 300 misinformation accounts linked to a Russian misinformation network.
• As per reports, the disinformation network initially posted memes and comments, in November and December 2020 and again in May 2021.
• These accounts were reportedly linked to Russian disinformation networks and targeted users primarily in India, Latin America and the US.

Facebook has banned over 300 misinformation accounts that claimed Covid-19 vaccines from Astrazeneca and Pfizer would turn humans into chimpanzees. These accounts were reportedly linked to Russian disinformation networks and targeted users primarily in India, Latin America and the US. As per reports, the disinformation network initially posted memes and comments, in November and December 2020, claiming that the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine would turn people into chimpanzees after which it remained inactive. After a gap of five months, in May 2021, it surfaced again and questioned the safety of the Pfizer vaccine by posting an allegedly hacked and leaked AstraZeneca document.

“We removed 65 Facebook accounts and 243 Instagram accounts for violating our policy against foreign interference, which is coordinated inauthentic behaviour on behalf of a foreign entity. This network operated across over a dozen platforms and forums but failed to build an audience. Our investigation found links between this campaign and Fazze. Fazze is now banned from our platform,” said Ben Nimmo, Global IO Threat Intelligence Lead, and the IO Threat Intelligence Team at Facebook, in the report.

“AstraZeneca created a vaccine based on chimpanzee genes when tests showed side effects, this vaccine should be banned, otherwise we will all become chimpanzees,” Business Insider quoted one post by the misinformation network. The Instagram accounts carried out “crude and spammy” activity that was centered around a handful of hashtags like #AstraZenecakills and #AstraZenecalies, #stopAstraZeneca. Between December 14 and December 21, about 10,000 posts that included the operation’s hashtags were made, often with links to the operation’s off-platform articles, Facebook said.

Facebook noted that the campaign created misleading articles and petitions on multiple forums including Reddit, Medium, Change.org, and Medapply.co.uk. It then used fake accounts on social media, including Facebook and Instagram, to seed and amplify this off-platform content, using crude spammy tactics. The campaign also aimed at engaging influencers with pre-existing audiences on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok to post content and use particular hashtags without disclosing the origin of the posts.

“Our teams continue to focus on finding and removing deceptive campaigns around the world — whether they are foreign or domestic. We know that influence operation will keep evolving in response to our enforcement, and new deceptive behaviours will emerge,” Facebook said in the report.