Facebook announced Thursday that it had removed four disinformation operations since it released its September coordinated inauthentic behavior report, including more than 200 accounts it said were connected to Turning Point USA.
The social media platform “removed 200 Facebook accounts, 55 Pages and 76 Instagram accounts for violating our policy against coordinated inauthentic behavior” focused “primarily on domestic US audiences,” according to Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of security policy. Facebook said that the operation was likely established in 2018 and continued through 2020.
“Although the people behind this network attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, our investigation linked this activity to Rally Forge, a US marketing firm, working on behalf of Turning Point USA and Inclusive Conservation Group. Rally Forge is now banned from Facebook,” Gleicher wrote.
Turning Point told the Washington Examiner that Facebook’s claim is incorrect.
“Facebook’s blog post in question was in reference to a project for Turning Point ACTION, a 501c4 and an entirely separate entity. The mistake has been flagged with Facebook’s communication team,” a spokesperson said. “Turning Point ACTION works hard to always operate within social platforms’ TOS on all of its projects and communications and [hopes] to work closely with FB to rectify any misunderstanding.”
Rally Forge markets itself as a digital consulting firm that uses “viral brand promotion” to “build movements that will help restore our nation to its rightful place as the shining city atop the hill,” according to its website. Rally Forge spent $973,000 dollars in advertisements on Facebook and Instagram across both authentic and inauthentic accounts, Facebook’s release stated.
Gleicher added that Facebook was “continuing to investigate all linked networks, and will take action as appropriate if we determine they are engaged in deceptive behavior.”
The three other inauthentic behavior operations that were removed during the first week of October involved activity in Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan, and Malaysia.
Facebook also announced an operation that was removed in September that was not included in its monthly inauthentic behavior report. That operation was a Russian network linked to the United Russia Party that focused on domestic audiences.
As Election Day draws closer, Facebook is ramping up its efforts to combat disinformation and election delegitimization. On Wednesday, Facebook announced that it would ban all political ads after Election Day indefinitely. The company also announced that it would block advertisements from any candidate who claimed victory before election results were confirmed.
