Philippines: fake accounts shut down by Facebook promoted Duterte and China

The two most-followed fake accounts of the 155 removed by Facebook on Tuesday were focused on Philippine news, according to network analysis firm Graphika

The networks originated from individuals in China, while Facebook has also shut down another account with links to Philippine military and police

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Activists say the large followings of fake accounts pushing Philippine news underscores the extent of the country’s disinformation problem. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:18pm, 23 Sep 2020Updated: 12:20am, 24 Sep 2020

Fake social media accounts that promoted news content in the Philippines had by far the highest number of followers and interactions of those shut down on Tuesday by Facebook – a finding that activists said underscored the extent of the country’s disinformation problem.

The network analysis firm Graphika, which specialises in disinformation detection, said in a 50-page report analysing fake accounts flagged by Facebook that two fake pages on the site focusing on the Philippines had attracted the most followers – at 57,000 and 40,000 – out of the 11 Facebook pages in total that were taken down.

The Tuesday takedown included 155 Facebook accounts, nine groups and six accounts from Facebook-owned Instagram, the photo and video-sharing social networking service. Of the nine groups, the one with the biggest following was also one that focused on Philippines politics. It had over 51,000 members.

Facebook attributed all the accounts that were taken down to individuals in China, the Graphika report said.

Graphika said the accounts that focused on the Philippines started their activities in March 2018 and ran until August, and were found to have posted content “supportive of President Rodrigo Duterte and Sara Duterte’s potential run in the 2022 presidential election; criticism of Rappler, an independent news organisation in the Philippines; and issues relevant to overseas Filipino workers”.

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