Facebook busts Israeli company’s campaign to disrupt international elections

Archimedes Group focussed on elections in Africa, Asia and Latin America, according to the social network

Paper circles with the Facebook logo are displayed during the F8 Facebook Developers conference on 30 April, 2019 in San Jose, California (Getty)

Facebook has banned an Israeli company for interfering with elections around the world by creating fake accounts and pages to spread propaganda and manipulate voters.

Tel Aviv-based Archimedes Group coordinated campaigns across Africa, Asia and Latin America, according to an internal investigation by Facebook into inauthentic behaviour on its platform.

The social network removed 265 Facebook and Instagram accounts, pages, groups and events that were deemed to be fake or used to disseminate deliberately manipulative content.

Around 2.8 million Facebook accounts followed one or more of these pages, with various events organised by the pages’ creators.

According to Archimedes Group’s website, the firm is in the business of “winning campaigns worldwide”, using unconventional methods when necessary.

“Archimedes has created and operates in its own unique field within the social media realm,” the site states.

“When approaching a client’s challenge, we address all possible facets relating to it. We then formulate a concise yet comprehensive solution that will use every tool and take every advantage available in order to change reality according to our client’s wishes.”

While Facebook identified Archimedes Group as the source of some of the activity, other individuals or organisations that may have been behind the campaigns could not be identified.

“This activity originated in Israel and focussed on Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Angola, Niger and Tunisia along with some activity in Latin America and southeast Asia,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, wrote in a blogpost detailing the campaign.

“The page administrators and account owners frequently posted about political news, including topics like elections in various countries, candidate views and criticism of political opponents..

“As in other cases involving coordinated inauthentic behaviour, the individuals behind this activity coordinated with one another to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing, and that was the basis for our action.”

Archimedes Group spent around $812,000 (£638,000) on Facebook adverts between 2012 and 2019, according to Mr Gleicher.

Facebook said it has banned the organisation and all of its subsidiaries from its platforms, and had issued a cease-and-desist letter.

The Independent contacted Archimedes Group for a comment on the ban but did not receive a response.