The logo of Meta Platforms in Davos, Switzerland, on May 22, 2022. aid to Central Asia and concentrated on the Chinese Communist Party’s treatment of Chinese Muslim minorities, particularly Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.Īccounts in the Middle East also focused on issues in Yemen, primarily sharing content that was critical of Iranian and Houthi rebel activity in the country, including posts that accused Houthi rebel leaders of blocking humanitarian aid deliveries and acting as proxies for Iran and Hezbollah.Ī portion of the activity also promoted anti-extremism messaging, according to the report. They also promoted the narrative that Russian President Vladimir Putin planned to induce a global food crisis that would impact less economically developed countries the hardest. The accounts heavily criticized Russia, in particular, for the deaths of innocent civilians amid the invasion of Ukraine, which began in February, according to the report. “These campaigns consistently advanced narratives promoting the interests of the United States and its allies while opposing countries including Russia, China, and Iran,” the report reads. The joint investigation by the Stanford Internet Observatory and Graphika, a social media analytics firm, found that an “interconnected web of accounts” on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and five other social media platforms utilized “deceptive” strategies to back Western narratives in the Middle East and Central Asia. Facebook and Twitter took down a network of social media accounts that “used deceptive tactics” to promote pro-Western narratives that supported the United States and its allies while opposing countries such as China, Russia, and Iran, according to an Aug.