Meta Platforms says the company removed 510 Facebook accounts, 11 pages, one group, and 32 Instagram accounts from Israel for violating its policy against coordinated inauthentic behaviour (CIB). The removed content included “praise” for Israel’s continuing military brutalities in Gaza, which have killed over 36,000 people.
The disclosures arrive in Meta’s Adversarial Threat Report for the first quarter of 2024. The report highlights that Meta took down influence campaigns aimed at peddling political propaganda, including those supporting the Israeli government. The company says artificial intelligence (AI) was likely used in one of the influence operation.
The network originating from Israel primarily targeted audiences in the United States (US) and Canada, says Meta, adding that the “cross-internet operation targeted many services, including ours [Meta], X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube”. The network operated various “distinctly branded” websites and focused on Israel’s attacks on Gaza and Middle Eastern politics. “We found and removed this network early in its audience building efforts, before they were able to gain engagement among authentic communities,” Meta claims.
“This network’s accounts posed as locals in the countries they targeted, including as Jewish students, African Americans and ‘concerned’ citizens,” the report reads. “They posted primarily in English about the Israel-Hamas war, including calls for the release of hostages; praise for Israel’s military actions; criticism of campus antisemitism, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and Muslims claiming that ‘radical Islam’ poses a threat to liberal values in Canada.”
The report adds that the individuals behind the campaigns concealed their identities and coordination, but Meta found traced its links to STOIC, which is a political marketing and business intelligence firm based in Tel Aviv, Israel. “It is now banned from our platform,” says Meta. “We issued a cease and desist letter to STOIC, demanding that they immediately stop activity that violates Meta’s policies.”
The report primarily covers influence operations from five countries: Israel, China, Croatia, Bangladesh, and Iran.
Meta has been under intense public glare since Israel initiated its relentless bombing of Gaza on October 7, 2023, which it says will continue for another seven months. The company has been found shadow banning pro-Palestinian content, suppressing comments criticising Israel’s inhumane actions, radicalising Palestinian children through its AI sticker generator on WhatsApp by showing them in possession of firearms, and inserting the term “terrorist” in the bio of users who claim to be Palestinian. In addition, Instagram routinely flags posts, stories, and comments supporting Palestine, saying they violate the company’s content guidelines.
The Israeli airstrikes and ground atrocities have killed 36,000 people in Palestine, including refugees seeking shelter in designated camps, health officials, journalists, aid providers, and others. According to the United Nations (UN), Israel has murdered more than 14,500 children in Gaza, destroying hospitals, refugee and aid camps, and densely populated civilian buildings. However, the number of deaths is reported to be higher by other agencies.
