Researchers say, Meta and Twitter have removed from their respective platforms, an online propaganda campaign aimed at promoting US interests abroad. According to a report by Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO), this is the first pro-US propaganda operation, which was taken down by the technology companies.
Both Meta and Twitter have removed dozens of accounts in the campaign in July and August, 2022. It is still not clear, who is behind the propaganda operation. The researcher’s said Twitter has identified the United Kingdom and the United States as the presumptive countries of origin, while Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, said that the United States was the country of origin.
However, the researchers are very clear that even though the companies had named these countries, it did not prove that they had been behind the campaign. According to SIO, they do not have the necessary information to attribute this activity to a single country or company.
The suspended accounts were targeting audiences in Central Asia and the Middle East in multiple languages. The accounts have promoted narratives in support of the United States and its allies. SIO found that, the campaign mirrored some of the tactics commonly used in propaganda campaigns against the western countries.
