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Facebook Removes Network in Ethiopia for Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior

65 accounts, 52 pages, 27 groups, 32 Instagram accounts

Caption: Debretsion’s death is being talked about on social media. It seems all that threat has gone to grave. It is usually the case that an empty threat of a “shiro” is until a spoon finds it. Image overlay: Debretsion, the warthog, has been making threats wearing his gloves but he has gone to the grave.Facebook
DavidCohen
By David Cohen

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Facebook removed a network of 65 accounts, 52 pages, 27 groups and 32 Instagram accounts in Ethiopia for violating its policies on coordinated inauthentic behavior.

The country’s general election is set for June 21.

Facebook head of security policy Nathaniel Gleicher said in a Newsroom post Wednesday that the people behind the network that was removed coordinated with one another and used fake accounts to mislead people about who they were and what they were doing, adding that the activity was focused on domestic audiences in Ethiopia.

Posts were primarily in the Amharic language about news and current events in Ethiopia, including the Prosperity party, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and criticism of Egypt and Sudan related to Ethiopia’s mega dam project, as well as critical commentary about various opposition politicians and groups in Ethiopia, including Oromo Liberation Front, Ethiopian Democratic Party and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

Gleicher

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DavidCohen

David Cohen

David Cohen is editor of Adweek's Social Pro Daily.

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