"these are actors that were essentially facilitating deception, and they appear to be commercially engaged to do this. That type of business does not have a place on our platforms so we are removing them from the platform and our teams will continue to investigate to look for other instances of this type of behaviour, [whether] for commercial or other strategic purposes."Archimedes' operations are thought to have focused on Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Angola, Niger and Tunisia, as well as a handful of Asian and Latin American countries. It is thought that the campaign has spent over $800,000 on Facebook adverts since 2012.
"It's a real communications firm making money through the dissemination of fake news," said Graham Brookie, director of the Digital Forensic Research Lab at the Atlantic Council, a think tank collaborating with Facebook to expose and explain disinformation campaigns.
He called Archimedes' commercialization of tactics more commonly tied to governments, like Russia, an emerging--and worrying--trend in the global spread of social media disinformation. "These efforts go well beyond what is acceptable in free and democratic societies," Brookie said.
Gleicher described the pages as conducting "coordinated inauthentic behavior," with accounts posting on behalf of certain political candidates, smearing their opponents and presenting as legitimate local news organizations peddling supposedly leaked information.
"Our team assessed that because this group is primarily organized to conduct deceptive behavior, we are removing them from the platform and blocking them from coming back," he added.
The activity appeared focused on ... what Brookie called a "staggering diversity of regions" that pointed to the group's sophistication. Thousands of people expressed interest in attending at least one of the nine events organized by those behind the pages. Facebook could not confirm whether any of the events actually occurred. Some 5,000 accounts joined one or more of the fake groups. The most significant audience engagement was generated in Malaysia, which has a vast media market and held a general election last year.
Facebook shared a few examples of the fake content, including one post mocking 2018 Congolese presidential candidate Martin Fayulu for crying foul play in the elections that vaulted Felix Tshisekedi to victory. Many governments and watchdog groups condemned the elections as rigged and declared Fayulu the rightful winner.
Given the geographical variety of Archimedes' operations, "it's impossible to determine a single ideological thread," said Brookie. "They weren't pushing exclusively far-right or anti-globalist content. It appears to be a clear-cut case of spreading disinformation through economic incentive."
He added that Archimedes-linked pages pulled from the playbook of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, with widely amplified yet tailored messages targeting potential voters and "creating a specter of leaked information." Most impostor accounts shared a key tactic: posing as a campaigner for a particular candidate and then sharing opinions that actual supporters would find offensive.
It is as yet unclear, who launched the projectiles and what the target was. Damascus has repeatedly accused Israel of targeting the Syrian territory in air raids and missile strikes. Tel Aviv, however, rarely admits responsibility for the attacks, usually keeping silent about such incidents altogether.
"The Defense Department requested fiscal 2020 funding to support certain reconciliation activities, including logistic support for members of the Taliban and, in March 2019, they sent a notification letter to the Committee on using fiscal year 2019 funds for similar activities,"The money would pay for the terrorist organization's transportation, lodging, food and supplies, the spokesman said. He also said the Defense Department's request
"would implicate provisions of law concerning material support to terrorists, the Taliban's ongoing offensive operations against U.S. service members, and their continuing lack of acknowledgement of the government of Afghanistan or the rights of women in Afghan society."
Comment: ZeroHedge follows up: