We view influence operations as coordinated efforts to manipulate public debate for a strategic
goal where fake accounts are central to the operation. There are two tiers of these activities
that we work to stop: 1) coordinated inauthentic behavior in the context of domestic, non-state
campaigns (CIB) and 2) coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign or government
actor (FGI).
COORDINATED INAUTHENTIC BEHAVIOR (CIB)
When we find domestic, non-government campaigns that include groups of accounts and
Pages seeking to mislead people about who they are and what they are doing while relying on
fake accounts, we remove both inauthentic and authentic accounts, Pages and Groups directly
involved in this activity.
FOREIGN OR GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE (FGI)
If we find any instances of CIB conducted on behalf of a government entity or by a foreign
actor, we apply the broadest enforcement measures including the removal of every on-platform
property connected to the operation itself and the people and organizations behind it.
CONTINUOUS ENFORCEMENT
We keep to monitor for efforts to re-establish a presence on Facebook by networks we
previously removed for CIB. Using both automated and manual detection, we continuously
remove accounts and Pages connected to networks we took down in the past.
SUMMARY OF APRIL 2020 FINDINGS
This month, we removed eight networks of accounts, Pages and Groups. Two of them — from
Russia and Iran — focused internationally (FGI), and the remaining six — in the US, Georgia,
Myanmar and Mauritania — targeted domestic audiences in their respective countries (CIB).
We have shared information about our findings with law enforcement, policymakers and
industry partners.
We know that people looking to mislead others — whether through phishing, scams, or
influence operations — try to leverage crises to advance their goals, and the coronavirus
pandemic is no different. All of the networks we took down for CIB in April were created before
APRIL 2020 COORDINATED INAUTHENTIC BEHAVIOR REPORT