META removes over a hundred fake accounts distorting events in south Caucasus countries

META (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) has removed 76 fake accounts and 30 Facebook pages, as well as 11 Russian-origin Instagram accounts, due to misinformation,  the company's report. The target of this network of fake accounts was Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

Posts from these accounts supported Russia and criticized the West. In Georgia, they supported the Foreign Agents Law, in Azerbaijan they criticized the West, and in Armenia, they posted pro-Russian opinions and criticism of Prime Minister Pashinyan.

According to the report, this concerns an information network that includes "fake" websites such as “Georgia Today” (sakartvelo-today.org) in Georgia, “Yerli.Media” (yerlimedia.org) in Azerbaijan, and “Lurer Media” (lurermedia.org) in Armenia. All these sites are associated with the Moscow-based marketing company IMA Digital.

META's data shows that these news sites are also present on various platforms, including YouTube, Telegram, and TikTok. Despite the closure of their accounts on Facebook and Instagram, these sites continue to operate and publish "hot news" in Georgian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Russian languages.

Information about the fake accounts was provided by the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), which led to their discovery by META's automated systems and subsequent blocking until the investigation is completed.