August 6, 2020

"Facebook removed hundreds of accounts on Thursday from a foreign troll farm posing as African-Americans in support of Donald Trump and QAnon supporters."

"It also removed thousands of fake accounts linked to conservative media outlet The Epoch Times that pushed pro-Trump conspiracy theories about coronavirus and protests in the U.S. Facebook took down the accounts as part of its enforcement against coordinated inauthentic behavior, which is the use of fake accounts to inflate the reach of content or products on social media. The foreign pro-Trump troll farm was based in Romania and pushed content on Instagram under names like 'BlackPeopleVoteForTrump' and on Facebook under 'We Love Our President.'"

NBC News reports.

105 comments:

Nichevo said...

If they're not catching and acting on any frauds favoring Biden, then they're obviously not trying.

Temujin said...

I wonder how they'll handle troll reports from NBC employees posing as 'Journalists!'?

Lucid-Ideas said...

Lol now do Beyoncé, Kanye, and Zuckerberg. As if they don't hire the same like farms overseas...

TreeJoe said...

I'm struggling to understand the concept of "fake accounts "

What's fake about them? Are they not REAL accounts being coordinated by a foreign entity?

These aren't accused to being bots, they are basically saying foreign accounts to pretend to be something they aren't won't be tolerated.

Gonna require alot more clean-up than this if that's the case.

Readering said...

From my mom's stunned conversations with contemporaries espousing nutty coronavirus beliefs, it seems they get them from what they read on Facebook. Never joined so not sure how that works but it seems to be a problem with giving misinformation to the elderly.

YoungHegelian said...

The accounts posted about “ongoing U.S. protests and conspiracy theories about who is behind them,” Gleicher said. Some accounts pushed health misinformation about COVID-19, which led to their ban from their services before this month’s takedown.

What? That it's not a bunch of lefty Democrats funding a bunch of commies who are behind them? conspiracy theories? The kind of conspiracy theories that are now being voiced in Senate hearings?

traditionalguy said...

FAKE NEWS. That is how the Dem Globalist Cabal does their Podesta Style dirty tricks. Always appears to come from a Rumanian Bot.

CJinPA said...

Romania! Even when it was the Russians I knew it was really the Romanians!

Amadeus 48 said...

This illustrates how stupid this “enforcement” action is. Facebook needs to realize that if they want to arbitrate content, they are acting as a publisher. They don’t want to be a publisher. There are too many idiots around that they don’t want to publish, including those that work at Facebook.

mccullough said...

So Facebook hired trolls in Romania so it could make a show of shutting them down.

Meanwhile, China continues to infiltrate the US through universities, media, and social media.

No coincidence that the NBA has gone all BLM nowadays. Xi is pleased.

Big Mike said...

Now do the same for the Democrats.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

How do we know that Facebook isn't lying about the accounts being from a troll farm? Facebook lies about all kinds of things all the time. Why should we trust them on this?

ALP said...

Why hasn't the word "troll" come under fire for being offensive to Norwegians or whatever culture spawned them?

Yancey Ward said...

And we will just have to take their word for it, won't we?

Birkel said...

Why would anybody believe this propaganda?

Sprezzatura said...

I hope they don’t take away some of the mega-maga, over-the-top DJT fans that I follow on Twitter.

They seem fake. But reading them is enjoyable. IMHO.

Althouse’s pro-DJT stuff as been muddled recently. = less fun/funny. Please don’t take away the nuts on Twitter! Even if they are fake.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Fakebook.

rehajm said...

Hard fact check truth:
I traced 18 of 20 Facebook independent oversight board members to political activist George Soros and/or his foundations.
This helps explain why fact checks so often seem to cut in one direction and are not neutral.

Kevin said...

People who lied about last election declare themselves arbiters of truth for this one.

rehajm said...

...and while I'm on the subject:

A) Twitter suspended
@TeamTrump
for a clip of the President talking (accurately) about children's reduced susceptibility to coronavirus amid school reopening.

B) The guy who announced Twitter's decision used to get paid as a Kamala Harris spokesman.

Kevin said...

We Love Our President.

Clearly suspicious.

Trump is Scum wouldn’t get a second look.

Nonapod said...

I think it's healthy to be hugely skeptical of just about any story you see on Facebook (and for that matter Twitter and Instagram and pretty much all social media). Heck, I don't even fully trust most news from traditional sources anymore without sufficient coorboration from multiple unconnected sources.

My advice to everyone these days is to just be more skeptical. Don't assume what you're reading, hearing, and seeing is perfectly true. Especially if it nicely confirms your biases. If something is too good to be true...

madAsHell said...

Why hasn't the word "troll" come under fire for being offensive to Norwegians or whatever culture spawned them?

Rhetorical much??

Jim at said...

but it seems to be a problem with giving misinformation to the elderly. ... which is better than the D policy of shoving the sick ones into nursing homes.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Prepping for the next false flag that’ll be blamed on Q supporters?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

were they fake?

of just not pro-democrat.

Kai Akker said...

O M G

What is real?

This must be existentialism.

Social med -

-i a AAargh!

Todd said...

So they were able to root out hundreds of fake accounts that were pro-Trump. What are the odds? I don't recall EVER hearing about them rooting out fake Hillary or Biden accounts, at least not until after the election, after the damage was done.

What would be the odds that the facebook algorithm for fake accounts is "posts or likes anything pro-Trump"? How would anyone know? How could anyone trust anything they say after what they have already been caught doing? Facebook, another old media dinosaur that does not even realize that its extremities are dying and rotting off.

heyboom said...

I have the same reservations about the trustworthiness of Facebook getting to determine what is and isn't factual. I don't believe it at all.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

Why hasn't the word "troll" come under fire for being offensive to Norwegians or whatever culture spawned them?

I've been on the internet so long that I know that the term troll, as used on the internet, didn't originate from the trolls of folklore. It originates from the term "trolling" as a way of fishing. Jerks would get on the internet and would through out chum on Usenet or other forums, trolling for victims.

Static Ping said...

One of the things that has always been true about the Internet is the amount of fakery going about. If Facebook were to actually purge all the fake accounts, it wouldn't surprise me if they lost 25%-50% of their total. But they managed to find this bunch. Yay. If they really took it seriously they might go out of business.

It used to be said that in some Internet circles the accounts of men were men and the accounts of women were also men. These days you cannot be sure if there is anything alive on the other end.

In related news, there was that Twitter account of the ASU anthropology professor who was a queer Native American who died of COVID-19. Of course, said professor never actually existed.
https://nypost.com/2020/08/04/scientist-says-she-made-up-asu-professor-who-died-of-covid-19/

Michael K said...

it seems to be a problem with giving misinformation to the elderly.

You mean the elderly that doesn't watch TV and isn't on Facebook? It's pretty funny to see the left complaining about the only sources that provide both sides of arguments.

Original Mike said...

Did they take down any lefty accounts?

ALP said...

It originates from the term "trolling" as a way of fishing.

****
Makes way more sense now thanks. Fishing terminology not my strong suit - obviously.

Freeman Hunt said...

Why doesn't anyone believe in the right of people to be morons anymore? People message me with idiotic stuff all the time. I tell them that I think it's stupid. (I don't try to get it banned.) Sometimes they decide that they agree; sometimes they don't. One of us is being a moron, and that's a person's right! Adults don't need Daddy Facebook to come in and boss them around. Free people have the right to believe stupid things.

wild chicken said...

I can always tell the fake maga accounts because they put silly stickers with their names. Stars, flags, fireworks and stuff. What real person does that.

And also they seem really stupid.

iowan2 said...

Brennan knew the Trump was a knowing or unknowing agent for Russia.

Grab hold and hang on tight to that truth.

Now, what are the odds, any bit of this is based on fact?

"NBC reports, Facebook told them..." The number of minutes NBC spent reporting, The Acting Attourney General of the United States, testified under oath, her FBI Director was running a rogue spying operation on the political campaign of President Donald Trump? = 0 minutes 0 seconds.

To believe this exposes those not able to be out on their own alone.

tim maguire said...

They were probably able to flag the QAnon accounts because there are only 7 or 8 actual QAnon supporters. Still, I’m surprised the DNC approved it given the value those 7 or 8 people provide to the leftists. That would be like the RNC shutting down antifa or BLM twitter. What ever for?

Openidname said...

Of course, the fact that the Epoch Times is fervently anti-China had nothing to do with it.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

It used to be said that in some Internet circles the accounts of men were men and the accounts of women were also men.

https://i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/011/625/Internet_dog.jpg

MeatPopscicle1234 said...

Right... we'll just take Facebook's word that these are "fake" accounts...

Drago said...

Kevin: "People who lied about last election declare themselves arbiters of truth for this one.

Paging leftists Inga, r/v, readering, Howard, ARM, LLR-lefty C****, gadfly, Freder........

Mike Sylwester said...

This reminds me of when Facebook banned Diamond and Silk for violating community standards by supporting Donald Trump while being Black.

mikee said...

Romania, the one European country to treat its former ruling class correctly! The world would be a better place if every country in the Warsaw Pact had tried and shot its former rulers.

That said, Chinese troll and bot farms are supposedly much less expensive than European ones.

Drago said...

I wonder if Facebook and Twitter will censor Joe Biden (and by extension every lefty and LLR-lefty at Althouse) believing passionately that there is no real diversity in the African-American community compared to the hispanic community?

tsk tsk tsk

I think we see why there are so many African-American's walking away from the racist dems.

elkh1 said...

It's more likely they take down the Epoch Time on behalf of the CCP. The Epoch Time is founded and supported by FaLunGong which has been persecuted by the CCP for over twenty years. Their members are used as live organ donors.

JaimeRoberto said...

Without evidence the article says the troll farm is linked to the Epoch Times. All I saw were assertions of a link. Maybe they are linked, but the article sure didn't prove it.

We do know that the Epoch Times is linked to the Falun Gong, which is no friend of the Chinese Communist Party. So I'll assert without evidence that this story shows that NBC is linked to the CCP.

Leland said...

They also took down Dr. Stella Immanuel's access (according to her), so I guess she's a Russian bot now? Blacks supporting Trump are now trivialized as Russian bots?

I'm waiting for Republicans to start calling this stuff what it is: in-kind donations to the DNC and acting appropriately. I'm not holding my breath.

Ralph L said...

We Love Our President.

In the 70's in DC, there was a poster war between "Down with the Shah" and "We Love Our King."

Ken B said...

Epoch Times is an anti CCP paper. So the opponents of the Chinese communists want Trump.

Browndog said...

Interesting how many take this report at face value.

Chuck said...

Remarkable comments page.

Setting aside the particulars of a post featuring Facebook, alleged censorship, Breitbart and QAnon (any one of which could give me a whopping headache by themselves), just look at the tone and the vitriol in not just some, but now most of the Althouse commenters. If you’ve been a follower of this blog long enough, think back to what comments pages were like 10 or 12 years ago.

Althouse do you see it?

chuck said...

Hmm. Did Facebook run gold standard randomized controlled trials on thousands to verify the Covid-19 misinformation claims? I won't believe anything until they do that :)

Dr Weevil said...

Too lazy to check, but I believe "trolling" as a form of fishing is an alternative spelling of "trawling", which is what trawlers (a kind of ship) do: they drag a huge long net behind them to see what they can drag in. I think the Chinese fishing boats that are annoying Ecuador by overfishing the waters near the Galapagos Islands are probably trawlers.

readering said...

A lot of commenters don't even try.

walter said...

Funny,
Never saw anything like those. All I see on my FB is mask ads and Republicans against Trump videos.

Drago said...

readering: "A lot of commenters don't even try."

Tell us more about your hoax russia collusion, your hoax dossier, your ukraine phone call impeachment hoax and your rape smears against Brett Kavanaugh.

Ron Winkleheimer said...



This is a video on trolling for fish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1w-4hHQWJA

Basically you cast a weighted fishing line behind a slowly moving boat and wait for a fish to take the bait. It differs from float fishing where a bobber/float is attached to the line and you remain stationary waiting for the bobber to be pulled under the water, indicating that a fish has taken the bait. Yes, I have gone fishing on occasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpDJesIC2TY

gilbar said...

Dr Weevil said...
Too lazy to check, but I believe "trolling" as a form of fishing


i think of trolling as dragging a hook, or hooks; behind a boat
Trawling, is dragging a net, or nets; behind a boat

Both are EVEN LESS actual fishing, then using a streamer
Some might say: But what about swinging a wet fly? Surely THAT, is actual fishing
Of COURSE it is! You're having the current swing it, not some powered boat
And you're using an imitation of a fly (larva)

Others Might Say: But what about still water fishing, where there Is No Current?
Trick Question! You can't actually fish still water. DUH!
You might as well be trying to catch bass

Inga said...

Good! It’s about time.

Clayton Hennesey said...

"Meanwhile, China continues to infiltrate the US through universities, media, and social media."

You know, we kinda don't need a China anymore. We've got one of our own now.

https://www.aleksandreia.com/2020/08/04/nice-little-web-site-youve-got-there/

Now our China is mostly focused on enriching itself through straight up larceny like this and through steering search results to those sites, mostly its own, which profit it most while suppression of political speech remains more an afternoon entertainment over drinks.

But I have high hopes that our China will one day prove the equal of any China in the world.

Static Ping said...

No, "trolling" is not an alternate spelling of "trawling," at least if Wikipedia is to be believed:

"Trolling is a method of fishing where one or more fishing lines, baited with lures or bait fish, are drawn through the water."

"Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats."

Of note, "trawling" requires a boat but "trolling" does not, though it can be done on a boat.

Original Mike said...

So I take it the answer to 'Did they take down any lefty accounts?' is No.

walter said...

Notorious, foul-mouthed Gin for civility trader drops by to yet once more critique the forum.
Let's revisit:
Ann Althouse said...
Chuck, you're doing clutter. You're causing me (and I presume others) to just have to scroll to get past your long and repetitive stuff. You need to change what you are doing or you will become one of the small group of people I call bad faith commenters, whose posts I delete without reading whenever I see them. I'm quite serious. You need to cut way back and keep it short. Stop repeating yourself. Everyone is bored and you are not cute. And don't argue with me in the comments. Stop doing clutter.
8/3/17, 2:16 PM
And just because...
Chuck said... I am afraid you are mistaking me for someone who has an interest in fair treatment of Donald Trump. I'm not your guy. I am interested in smearing him, hurting him and prejudicing people against him."
3/4/16, 4:46 PM

Sprezzatura said...

I’ll give you my BS lies that manipulate me when you pry them from my cold, dead hands!

=

modern cons.


Cool.

FullMoon said...

Already making excuses for Trump landslide...typically childish leftist behavior. Better than lefty tantrums involving violence and arson, however.

Fernandinande said...

Wasn't "Troll Farm" a Spinal Tap song?

enforcement against coordinated inauthentic behavior

Did they shut down CNN, NBC, nyt, etc.? Or vice-versa?

iowan2 said...

just look at the tone and the vitriol in not just some, but now most of the Althouse commenters

Looky here, Althouse get to use her "civility bullshit" tag

What a chode.

Fernandinande said...

If you’ve been a follower of this blog long enough, think back to what comments pages were like 10 or 12 years ago.

Your user profile says "On Blogger since May 2012".

Skeptical Voter said...

Chuckles is complaining about the tone of comments---so much more acid where Chuck is concerned than a mere ten or twelve years ago. it could be said that familiarity with Chuck and Inga and ARM breeds something less than wholehearted approbation. That may be it.

Ah well, first it was the Russkies; Now it may be a bunch of hired Romanaians. Don't make Trump mad or the Bulgarians may show up!

Meanwhile we learned today that the New York Times is sort of on the Chinese governments payroll publishing bought and paid for Chinese propaganda.

When will these goldanged furriners learn to stay out of our elections!

PB said...

No action on the pro-Biden troll farms, of course.

mandrewa said...

"Why doesn't anyone believe in the right of people to be morons anymore?"

Oh, I agree with you. But lets not pretend that the Epoch Times is moronic.
It's not moronic. It is propaganda. It is one sided, but it is not unintelligent.

It is more intelligent and more truthful than what you find on CNN or MSNBC or
what's taught at the University of Wisconsin in many cases. And this is despite
the Epoch Times having a tiny, tiny budget compared to these left-wing organizations.

What we are seeing is the destruction of democracy -- or even the possibility of
it, as speech is suppressed.

The craven thrive and the good at heart bow down their heads in submission.

Chuck said...

Just further proof of Trump's popularity, I guess. Either that or Facebook is simply looking the other way. Actually, I think both are true.

pacwest said...

Interesting piece by Sharyl Atkinson at RCI about the amount of influence Soros has at Facebook.

Michael said...

Chuck said..

If you’ve been a follower of this blog long enough, think back to what comments pages were like 10 or 12 years ago.

Have you noticed how Twitter and Facebook comments (which have always been contentious) went all Supernova P!ss And Vinegar since the start of the year? LOTS fewer pics of dinner, grandkids and flowers while lots more "Trump is Insane", "Biden Is Demented", black squares and All Lives Matter. in

This crap is flying out of control

Drago said...

I see LLR-lefty and passionate pro-Biden policies advocate Chuck is not handling very well the b**** slap National Review laid down on his FakeCon Bulwarkian Grifter Crew.

And that takedown was glorious.

It was as if the NR writer was staring into the abyss that is LLR-lefty and Whitmer reelection fanboy Chuck's political soul when the NR writer wrote it.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Do we even buy that "Foreign Troll Farms" exist?

Gojuplyr831@gmail.com said...

It is more intelligent and more truthful than what you find on CNN or MSNBC or
what's taught at the University of Wisconsin in many cases

Not the highest bar to clear, is it?

Leland said...

Speaking of bots, apparently Twitter has no problem with some of them.

Drago said...

Noted Lunatic Conspiracy Leftist and Ally of Fellow Leftist LLR-lefty Chuck, Inga: "Good! It’s about time."

Carter Page, russian spy or not?
Trump/Russia collusion, true or not?
Hoax dossier, "real" or not?
Kavanaugh, Rape Gang Leader or not?
Steve Bannon, instigator of all the riots or not?

LOLOLOLOLOL

Birkel said...

One assumes all the fopdoodles will vote for Senator Peters to totally pwn Trump.

Lebron John said...

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Josephbleau said...

All Trump supporters are bone ass stupid so good people hate them, of course. Why would anyone care if they live or die. Mostly we want them to die. S/n Regular Democrat.

Michael K said...

huck said...
Just further proof of Trump's popularity, I guess. Either that or Facebook is simply looking the other way. Actually, I think both are true.


LLR Chuck spreading more fertilizer. The comments here got so malignant the month before the 2016 election, I quit. I don't accept friends request on Facebook except family. I still see lots of nastiness. Facebook is heavily influenced by the left. They are enraged that Trump used their data in 2016 better than the Democrats. They are determined to prevent it this time. Google has allied itself with our enemies.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I was thinking about starting a foreign troll farm.

narciso said...

Btw the caretaker of burisma was raided in miami and cleveland.

readering said...

. . . but Drago tries the least.

Drago said...

readering: ". . . but Drago tries the least."

If you are bothered by others noticing your non-stop lies for over 4 years you might consider not lying for a period of time.

Think of it as a mendacity purge.

Good luck!

Chuck said...

“Chuck” at 6:33 is not me. Different account. Look; click on the name and check the profiles of me, and of “Chuck.”

I know it is confusing; nothing that I can do about it.

narciso said...

The epoch times had tracked the evolution of the research that wemt into wuhan we are supposed to believe it generated spontanously

PB said...

It had to create them so it could remove them.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Wuhan Hillary virus. We had to destroy the world economy. for the common good.

Birkel said...

Fopdoodles are complaining.
Cool.

narciso said...

https://mobile.twitter.com/drsimonegold/status/1291554276527837184

walter said...

Chuck said...
“Chuck” at 6:33 is not me. Different account. Look; click on the name and check the profiles of me, and of “Chuck.”
I know it is confusing; nothing that I can do about it.
--
Borrowing from Narr, add an annoying postscript like "Not that Chuck"

Gospace said...

mikee said...
Romania, the one European country to treat its former ruling class correctly! The world would be a better place if every country in the Warsaw Pact had tried and shot its former rulers.


While I approve of the final disposition of the Ceaușescus, I think it's it's a stretch to call what transpired a trial. Closer to a court martial in the field. Sort of the end some of our current crop of state governors are striving for.

The Crack Emcee said...

Michael K said...

'I don't accept friends request on Facebook except family."

I bet. You're malignant.

BWAAAAAAAAA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Darrell said...

Hillary and Soros spent more than $6 million on boiler rooms cranking out pro-Hillary /anti-Trump BS 24/7. They disrupted the comments at the Daily Mail and hacked their up-and-down voting system. I once had 6000 downvotes within seconds of posting a comment.

Rusty said...

Chuck said...
"Remarkable comments page.

Setting aside the particulars of a post featuring Facebook, alleged censorship, Breitbart and QAnon (any one of which could give me a whopping headache by themselves), just look at the tone and the vitriol in not just some, but now most of the Althouse commenters. If you’ve been a follower of this blog long enough, think back to what comments pages were like 10 or 12 years ago.

Althouse do you see it?"
Just curious. What's it like to be mediocre? Is it comforting? I know you have some sort of public sector job. Was that something you aspired to? What is life like without any intellectual challenges? I'm genuinely curious.

Jeff Brokaw said...

“So thankful we have Facebook to serve as the arbiter of truth!”

Anyone who believes that shit is too dumb to vote.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

everything the left accuse anyone else - they DO.

Russian collusion? Ignore the fact that Hillary took in millions from Russia for her family foundation. That Private Server really came in handy.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Trump - and anyone listening, insist Biden ‘insulted the Black community’ with remarks on Hispanic diversity.

Biden’s actual words: “And by the way, what you all know, but most people don’t know, unlike the African-American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things.”

Biden - Not only a racist but a crook. Vote for Biden!

Michael K said...


Blogger The Crack Emcee said...
Michael K said...

'I don't accept friends request on Facebook except family."

I bet. You're malignant.


More Crack meltdown. Too bad.

mikee said...

Gospace: A military court martial trial is still a trial. Three officers as judges, a defense and a prosecution, evidence presented, conviction, sentence. Every bit as legal a trial as those at Nuremberg or even Chelsea Manning got. And it was nice that they recorded the trial and the execution for posterity.

n.n said...

It is inconceivable that a well-defined diversity bloc would support Trump in numbers and spirit that are not commensurate to preconceived notions.