- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Oil extends gains, jobs report lifts Wall Street
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Top EU court finds against FIFA in key transfer market ruling
- Oil extends gains, Hong Kong stocks resume rally
- 'A man provides': Ukrainian miners send families away as Russia advances
- EU states greenlight extra tariffs on EVs from China
- Hong Kong stocks resume rally, oil dips after Middle East-fuelled surge
- Crude stable after Israel-Iran surge, Hong Kong stocks resume gains
- Hera spacecraft to probe asteroid deflected by defence test
- US dockworkers to head back to work after tentative deal
- After Helene's destruction, North Carolina starts to rebuild
- Dockers end three-day strike at Montreal port
- What next for OpenAI after $157 billion bonanza?
- Israel-Hamas war causes 86-percent dive in Gaza GDP: IMF
- Milan's Morata moves house after Inter-fan town mayor 'violates' privacy
- 'Devastating' storm hits Augusta National but Masters will go on
- Relief in Brazil, Asia over delay to EU deforestation rules
- Oil prices jump, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Biden says 'discussing' possible Israeli strikes on Iran oil facilities
- Oil prices rise, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Oil rallies, stocks mostly retreat on Middle East tensions
- Phasing out teen smoking could save 1.2 mn lives: study
- 'Welcome relief': Asia producers hail EU deforestation law delay
- Japan PM slated to announce plans for 'happiness index'
- Turkish inflation falls less than expected in September at 49.4%
- Easing inflation lifts profit at UK supermarket Tesco
- Skiing calls on UN climate science to combat melting future
- China wine industry looks to breed climate resilience
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong drops after surge
- Dutch airline KLM unveils 'firm' cost-cutting measures
- Carpe diem: the Costa Rican women turning fish into fashion
- Senegal looks to aquaculture as fish stocks dwindle
- Will AI one day win a Nobel Prize?
- Climate change, economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
- Argentina's Milei vetoes university budget after huge protests
- TotalEnergies plans to grow oil and gas production until 2030
- 2024 Nobels offer glimmer of hope as global crises mount
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong reverses after surge
- Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory
- High childcare costs in US weigh on women's employment
- US voters seek help with crushing childcare costs
Meta says China-based campaign aimed at US election
Meta said Tuesday it derailed a campaign out of China to influence upcoming US elections by posing as people in the United States taking sides on "hot button" issues.
It was the first Chinese network Meta has disrupted that focused on US politics ahead of crucial midterm elections in November, global threat intelligence lead Ben Nimmo said during a press briefing.
"The operation was small, but it is a significant change," Nimmo said.
"Which is why it's important to stay on high alert."
Meta said it was unable to determine whether the Chinese government was linked to the campaign, only that it originated in China.
The campaign used fake accounts at Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, posting on both sides of politically divisive topics such as abortion and gun control, Meta said in a report.
"It looks like they were using hot button issues in the US as a window into discourse on politics, pretending to be Americans," Nimmo said.
The China-based network also targeted Czech internet users with criticism of their government's support for Ukraine and its policy toward China, and more generally attempted to spread information on geopolitical issues critical of the United States.
The campaign involved 81 Facebook accounts and a pair of Instagram accounts but only prompted scant engagement before being blocked, according to the California-based social media titan.
"These accounts largely stuck to a shift pattern that coincided with a nine-to-five, Monday-to-Friday work schedule during working hours in China," Meta said.
"This meant that the operation was mostly posting when Americans were sleeping."
- Sophisticated and brutish -
Meta said it also dismantled what appeared to be the largest yet deceptive social media campaign run from Russia about the war in Ukraine.
The operation began in May and targeted primarily Germany, but also France, Italy, Ukraine and Britain, Meta threat disruption director David Agranovich said during the briefing.
At the center of the operation were about 60 websites imitating well-known media, including the German newspapers Der Spiegel and Bild, Meta said.
The Russian network created articles criticizing Ukraine and supporting Russia, sharing them on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Twitter or online petition sites.
Meta decided to investigate after journalists in Germany exposed the deception, the tech firm said.
"This is the largest and most complex Russian-origin operation that we've disrupted since the beginning of the war in Ukraine," Meta said in the security report.
"It presented an unusual combination of sophistication and brute force."
Imitating real news websites in multiple languages required significant technical and linguistic investment, the report noted.
The fake articles were promoted crudely, using paid ads or fake accounts, often getting caught by the social media platform's automated defenses, Meta said.
"They were throwing everything at the wall and not a lot was sticking," Agranovich said of the Russia-based campaign.
"We have seen a lot of operations since February, and those operations continue to target Ukraine."
The deceptive campaign out of Russia involved 1,633 accounts, 703 pages and one group on Facebook, as well as 29 accounts on Instagram, Meta said.
X.Wong--CPN