Facebook has removed hundreds of accounts involved in anti-vaccine disinformation campaigns originating from Russia, the company announced. The network targeted India, Latin America and the United States, recruiting influencers to spread false claims about Covid-19 vaccines.
The campaign was linked to Fazze, an influencer marketing agency that is part of the Russian-based company AdNow. In May, a BBC Trending investigation revealed that Fazze had paid influencers to spread false claims about the risks of the Pfizer vaccine. Facebook's latest report on coordinated inauthentic behaviour identified this as the second wave of efforts to smear Western vaccines.
According to Facebook, the network previously attempted to falsely portray the AstraZeneca vaccine as dangerous because it uses a harmless adenovirus from chimpanzees. Posts included memes from the Planet of the Apes films, suggesting the vaccine would turn people into monkeys. These appeared in Hindi around the time the Indian government was considering emergency authorisation for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The operation used fake accounts, some likely originating from account farms in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Facebook removed 65 Facebook accounts and 243 Instagram accounts for violating its policy against foreign interference. Ben Nimmo, Facebook's threat intelligence lead, described the campaign as a 'disinformation laundromat' that planted content on forums and amplified it across platforms.
Despite diverse tactics, including a claimed hack-and-leak and pay-to-publish pseudo-news sites, the campaigns failed to gain significant traction. Facebook noted sloppy practices, such as mixing languages in posts. The BBC has attempted to contact Fazze and AdNow for comment, but emails bounced back. A director of AdNow's British arm said Fazze was being shut down.
