Facebook bans a Russian vaccine misinformation campaign

In a major action, social media giant Facebook has taken down as many as 300 accounts that claimed coronavirus vaccines from AstraZeneca and Pfizer would turn humans into chimpanzees. As per the reports, these accounts were linked to Russian disinformation networks. These accounts were mainly targetting users in India, Latin America and the US. Ben Nimmo, Global IO Threat Intelligence Lead at Facebook shared the information. 

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. After that Facebook 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.

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.