Facebook last week deactivated more than 60 accounts linked to China that disseminated false information about COVID-19, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The accounts, which had spread false information about the coronavirus to Taiwanese users in hopes of creating public panic, used fake official documents to try to mislead people, the source said.
The Chinese profiles pretended to be Taiwanese users by using traditional Chinese character names, but Facebook was able to determine their authenticity by the date they were registered and their IP addresses, the source said.
Photo: Reuters
However, it is unclear if these accounts were directly linked to the Chinese government, the source added.
Another unnamed source said that the methods China uses to spread misinformation have become harder to detect.
In the past, Chinese operatives just created a Facebook page to spread falsehoods, but now they visit and leave messages on different pages to appear as legitimate users, which make their actions harder to detect, the source said.
Previously, these kinds of accounts were primarily used to spread false information to sway political elections, but now misinformation about the coronavirus is used to create public panic, the source said.
Facebook uses multiple resources to locate these kinds of profiles, including the Taiwan FactCheck Center, which provides information to the social networking service if it detects any abnormalities in an account.
During a meeting on Thursday organized by the National Communications Commission for social networking platforms, Facebook shared information about deactivating fake accounts that spread misinformation about the coronavirus.
Facebook said it has always acted on any profiles that breached its code of conduct, such as fraud. Hence, it has removed accounts that impersonated Taiwanese users and attempted to mislead the public by spreading false information.
The company said that it would continue to monitor the issue and take action against fake information related to COVID-19.
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