Facebook has removed a network of accounts from its platform which it said targeted Vietnamese activists who were critical of the country鈥檚 government, an official at Facebook鈥檚 parent company Meta said on Wednesday.听听
In July, the company removed a Vietnamese Facebook group called 鈥淓47鈥 which mobilized its members to report posts they did not like to Facebook, in an effort to have them taken down.听听
The latest action was taken against a separate group, according to David听Agranovich, Facebook鈥檚 head of global threat disruption.听听
鈥淲hat we saw was a network of accounts in Vietnam that was engaged in this kind of coordinated targeting of activists, and other people who publicly criticized the Vietnamese government,鈥 Mr. Agranovich told Reuters.听听
The attackers used Facebook accounts to submit 鈥渉undreds or thousands of reports鈥 against their targets using Facebook鈥檚 built-in reporting tools, Mr.听Agranovich听said of the network, which was also detailed in a report released by Facebook on Wednesday.听听
鈥淢any of the operators would use fake accounts, which they would use to pose as their targets, and then they would report the target鈥檚 real account as an impersonating account,鈥 he added.听听
Some of the accounts were openly offering the taking down of other Facebook accounts as a commercial service, according to听Agranovich.听听
鈥淭hey essentially advertise this kind of abusive reporting service in their actual bios,鈥 he said.听听
Unlike in neighboring China, Facebook is not blocked in Vietnam, where it has around 70 million users and is the country鈥檚 main platform for e-commerce.听听
It has also become the main platform for political dissent, however, putting Facebook and the government in a constant tussle over the removal of content deemed to be 鈥渁nti-state.鈥澨听
Vietnam鈥檚 foreign ministry, which handles enquiries to the government from foreign media, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 鈥斕James Pearson/Reuters
