Meta removes pages linked to Awami League for "inauthentic behaviour"

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced the removal of numerous accounts and pages linked to Bangladesh's ruling Awami League, citing violations of its policy against "coordinated inauthentic behaviour". This action was detailed in Meta's Quarterly Adversarial Threat Report for Q1 2024.

The company removed 50 Facebook accounts and 98 pages originating from Bangladesh. These accounts and pages were found to be targeting domestic audiences using fake identities to post content and manage pages. Some of these pages posed as fictitious news entities, while others used the names of existing news organisations in Bangladesh. A few pages used the name of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and posted content critical of the BNP.

Meta's investigation uncovered that this network had a presence on multiple platforms, including YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, Telegram, and their own websites. The network primarily posted content in Bengali, with some posts in English. The content included news and current events in Bangladesh, criticism of the BNP, allegations of BNP corruption and involvement in pre-election violence, as well as supportive commentary about the incumbent government and the ruling party.

The accounts and pages collectively had about 3.4 million followers. Meta reported an ad spend of approximately $60, paid mostly in Bangladeshi takas.