Following the recent Facebook bans on fake accounts in four countries, the social media giant said that it has discovered some accounts that are linked to the Saudi Arabia authorities. They have been using the social media platform to spread propaganda through fake accounts.

 

The social networking site says its operation mainly targeted the Middle East and North Africa. They also say most of the content was in Arabic. Also, it so far removed more than 350 accounts and pages.

 

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Facebook in its statement said that it did this to tackle coordinated inauthentic behaviour on Instagram and Facebook. People set up the accounts to act as citizens of these middle eastern countries when they are not.

 

The social network has constantly faced attack from critics for failing to remove misinformation from its platform. Facebook also said it has suspended some unconnected operations that originated in the UAE and Egypt. However, it did not link these other cases to the government in these countries.

 

 

The head of cybersecurity policy, Nathaniel Gleicher said the Saudi accounts posted in Arabic. He explained:

“The Page admins and account owners typically posted in Arabic about regional news and political issues, including topics like the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, his economic and social reform plan ‘Vision 2030’, and successes of the Saudi armed forces, particularly during the conflict in Yemen.”

 

Gliecher added:

“They also frequently shared criticism of neighbouring countries including Iran, Qatar, and Turkey, and called into question the credibility of Al-Jazeera news network and Amnesty International. Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities, our review found links to individuals associated with the government of Saudi Arabia.”

 

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