Facebook deletes fake Chinese accounts, pages supporting President Duterte

Facebook recently deleted several fake pages and accounts with contents supporting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio, who is rumored to run for the 2022 presidential election.

In an online press conference on Tuesday night, Nathaniel Gleicher, head of Facebook security policy, revealed that the fake accounts were traced to individual from Fujian province in China.

Gleicher explained that the fake account engaged in "coordinated inauthentic behavior" (CIB) that regularly post regarding global news, the West Philippine Sea, Hong Kong, criticism against Rappler, and contents supportive to President Duterte and Sara Duterte's possible 2022 presidential bid and much more.

He added that the fake account posted using three languages – Chinese, English, and Filipino.

"They focus most of their activities on Southeast Asia. They posted in Chinese, in Filipino, and in English about global news and current events, including Beijing's interest in the South China Sea, HongKong, contents supportive of President Duterte and Sara Duterte's potential run in the 2022 presidential elections, criticism of Rappler, issues relevant to overseas Filipino Workers, praise and some criticism of China," Gleicher said.

"We are attributing this to individuals operating from the Fujian province of China. In addition, it's worth noting, as often when we conduct one of these takedowns, we've shared information about this with our industry colleagues and with researchers," he added.

Previously, Facebook took down over 200 accounts reportedly operated in a network built by former communications strategist Nicanor Gabunada Jr. after it was flagged as CIB by Facebook.

Gabunada was Duterte's social media strategist during the 2016 presidential elections.