Facebook removes 39 Facebook accounts, 344 Pages, 13 Groups and 22 Instagram accounts originated in Georgia

Today, we removed 39 Facebook accounts, 344 Pages, 13 Groups and 22 Instagram accounts as part of a domestic-focused network that originated in the country of Georgia, Facebook said in a statement.

“The people behind this activity used fake accounts — some of which had been previously disabled by our automated systems — to increase engagement on their content and manage Pages. These Pages posed as news organizations and impersonated political parties, public figures, activist groups and media entities. The Page admins and account owners typically posted about domestic news and political issues such as elections, government policies, public officials, criticism of the opposition and local activist organizations. Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, our investigation linked this activity to Panda, an advertising agency in Georgia, and the Georgian Dream-led government,” the statement reads.

The company said that about 442,300 accounts followed one or more of these Pages, about 52,000 accounts joined at least one of these Groups and around 2,100 people followed one or more of these Instagram accounts.

As for advertising, less than $316,000 in spending for ads on Facebook and Instagram paid for in US dollars. That includes the entirety of advertising activity by both inauthentic and authentic accounts removed as part of this network engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior.

“We identified these accounts through our investigation into suspected coordinated inauthentic behavior in the region. Our investigation benefited from public reporting,” the statement reads.

According to the company, FastNews.ge, Mypress.ge and Erovnuli Media (National Media) are among the identified pages.