'Misinformation, fake news': India calls out Pakistan over false propaganda on social media after Stanford Internet Observatory report
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The SIO report said on August 31, Facebook suspended 103 pages, 78 groups, 453 Facebook accounts, and 107 Instagram accounts for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behaviour. As it notes in its takedown report, Facebook attributed this network to individuals in Pakistan.
India on Wednesday accused Pakistan of propagating fake news through social media platforms calling it "malicious propaganda, misinformation, #infodemic, fake news."
Malicious propaganda, misinformation, #infodemic, fake news. Call it what you may.
— India at UN, NY (@IndiaUNNewYork) September 1, 2020
Do read this report from the @stanfordio on motivated false propaganda from Pakistan.
The truth is out for the world to see. @UN @MEAIndia @IndianDiplomacy https://t.co/grYjBcuPXw
The Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations tweeted a report by the Stanford Internet Observatory(SIO) which said that Pakistan based Facebook and Instagram accounts leveraged mass reporting to silence critics.
"On August 31, 2020, Facebook suspended 103 pages, 78 groups, 453 Facebook accounts, and 107 Instagram accounts for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behaviour. As it notes in its takedown report, Facebook attributed this network to individuals in Pakistan," the SIO report said.
📢 Out today: A Mass Reporting Op on @Facebook in Pakistan - our amazing team of researchers gave up their weekend to conduct this fascinating analysis. Read 🧵 from @shelbygrossman ⤵️https://t.co/tIYq9BE2Zc https://t.co/6fowcJGqsj
— Stanford Internet Observatory (@stanfordio) September 1, 2020
The SIO said that it found "the network also had messaging praising the Pakistani military, along with some Indian military fan Pages and groups of unclear purpose. The network appears to have primarily targeted Pakistanis and Indians; posts were in Urdu, Hindi, English, and Punjabi."
The report said that Facebook reported that 70,000 accounts followed at least one of the pages and 1.1 million users belonged to the groups.
"Many pages and groups posted Pakistani nationalist content, praising the Inter-Services intelligence agency and ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party," it said.