Myanmar Inauthentic
Behavior Takedown
Multiple Clusters of Pages and Websites Pushed Large-Scale Clickbait, Small Volume
of Political Content
Léa Ronzaud, C. Shawn Eib, Camille François, Avneesh Chandra, Victoire Rio and Myat Thu
Executive Summary
On October 21, Facebook published examples of inauthentic networks that it had taken down
over the past several months for inauthentic behavior. The cases included 655 pages and 12
groups that were based in Myanmar. The pages formed a number of distinct clusters that
appeared to be primarily designed to drive traffic to websites with a view to profit from
advertising, both on Facebook and via the associated web domains. Each page typically shared
content from just one web domain at a time. Multiple pages, in turn, shared content from the
same domain, forming distinct clusters that served as an amplification network.
Some of the domains shared identical content and were associated with just one Google
Analytics and/or Google Adsense account, suggesting that they were part of networks operated
by the same entities. Some of the networks showed some degree of interconnection over time,
while others appeared to be distinct.
The assets in the takedown had very high follower numbers. Dozens of the pages had over 1
million followers each, with the largest having over 5 million at the time of the takedown; scores
more had followers in the hundreds of thousands. They produced large volumes of content and
generated millions of interactions.
The pages appeared to operate for profit. The websites to which they linked often carried ads;
some of the Facebook pages carried sponsored posts for commercial products. The majority of
the content posted focused on celebrities and gossip; but in the years of their activity the pages
also posted a small portion of content dealing with more political subjects or posted about the
Myanmar army. A few posts in 2019-20 mentioned the Arakan Army or Rakhine state; a few from
2017 included elements of dangerous speech, notably against Muslims. In an illustration of the
porous border between commercial spam and politically-oriented operations, blends of “lifestyle”
clickbait with political content have been observed historically both in commercial spam
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