Facebook Says Belarus KGB Linked to Fake Posts on EU Migrants
(Bloomberg) -- Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said it found evidence that Belarus's state security service, called the KGB, used fake accounts to try to shift blame to Poland over a migrant crisis on their border.
Meta said it removed 45 fake Facebook and Instagram accounts and five groups in Belarus that “primarily targeted audiences in the Middle East and Europe,” adding that some used artificial intelligence techniques to generate profile pictures. “Although the people behind it attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, our investigation found links to the Belarusian KGB,” it said in a statement.
The European Union accuses Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of orchestrating the crisis on its eastern flank by funneling thousands of people from the Middle East to his country's borders with Poland and Lithuania. Lukashenko has said he isn't willing to protect the bloc from migrants seeking asylum as the EU plans additional sanctions following his brutal repression of the opposition following last year's disputed presidential election.
People connected to the Belarus KGB posed as reporters and activists from the EU on the fake accounts, with the core of activity beginning in October and extending to accounts created as recently as mid-November, according to Meta.
“These fictitious personas posted criticism of Poland in English, Polish, and Kurdish, including pictures and videos about Polish border guards allegedly violating migrants' rights, and compared Poland's treatment of migrants against other countries,” Meta said.
The company also said it removed a network of 39 Facebook and Instagram accounts and groups based in Poland that worked since September “to dissuade migrants from entering the EU.”
“These fake personas claimed to be sharing their own negative experiences of trying to get from Belarus to Poland and posted about migrants' difficult lives in Europe,” according to the report.
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
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