Meta has already started to take precautions for fake Facebook accounts for the elections to be held in 2024. As you know, the critical US Presidential elections will be held this year. It is not yet clear whether Joe Biden will enter the election. However, it is certain that the Republican candidate will be former US President Donald Trump. In this sense, all eyes are on Facebook again. Facebook faced allegations that it influenced the election results through fake accounts, especially in the elections in which Trump first came to power.
Zuckerberg decided to close fake Facebook accounts for the election!
Facebook and its parent company Meta have begun shutting down thousands of fake accounts opened in China pretending to be US citizens. A similar scandal emerged in the US elections in 2016. It turned out that there are thousands of fake accounts that share posts especially in favor of Donald Trump. Most of these fake accounts originated from Russia. At one point, even Donald Trump’s seat was in danger due to this scandal, which made a lot of noise at the time.
In this sense, Meta has been taking great precautions against fake accounts, especially in the USA, since 2020. Despite all precautions, the US administration closed all communication channels with Meta in July. Meta management, on the other hand, reaches out to the White House and requests an appointment to explain the algorithm they use to identify fake accounts. The company announced that it has taken special precautions within the scope of election security, especially for Facebook.
In this sense, thanks to its algorithm, Meta discovered a fake account network organized in China. According to findings, the purpose of this network is to increase polarization rather than spreading fake information. This network had 4800 fake accounts. Accounts using the names, photos and location information of US citizens were resharing political posts made on X on Facebook. Although these posts were not fake, they were more likely to polarize the liberal and conservative wings.
This network was originally founded as a pet-related group to evade the Facebook algorithm. The aim here is not to attract the attention of the Facebook fake account algorithm. Such troll networks share posts on Facebook, especially in the USA. Although it is not used as much in our country as before, Facebook is among the important channels in the USA, especially for the critical mass of voters.
Cambridge Analytica scandal and fake Facebook accounts that gave Zuckerberg a headache
To remember, fake Facebook accounts played an important role in the US Presidential race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. It was revealed that the Cambridge Analytica research company, which once worked with Facebook, sold the personal information of many Facebook users living in the USA.
In this sense, it is estimated that the company has sold nearly 90 million personal information. This major investigation also testified in the case of Mark Zuckerberg. Cambridge Analytica company paid 5 billion dollars and was sentenced to closure. It was revealed at that time that this sold information was used through fake Facebook accounts opened especially through Russia.
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