Meta removes 18 Facebook accounts aimed at discrediting Dalai Lama
Global tech giant Meta detected and removed 18 fake accounts from Facebook that were part of Chinese covert influence operations, aimed at discrediting the Dalai Lama and spreading false information about the Tibetan spiritual leader's health.
Meta revealed this in its fourth quarter 2024 Adversarial Threat Report, which also said the company removed two pages, four groups, and five Instagram accounts, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
All of the removed accounts and pages originated in China and were meant to target the Tibetan exile community, especially in India, Nepal and Bhutan, across multiple online platforms including Facebook and Instagram, as well as X, and Blogspot, Meta said.
“The individuals behind this activity used fake accounts – many of which were detected and disabled by our automated systems before our investigation – to manage Pages, post, and amplify other people’s content," Meta said in the report. “They used proxy IPs to conceal their origin and appear to be coming from India, Bhutan, or Nepal.”
One of the fake accounts posed as a journalist in India’s northeastern border state of Arunachal Pradesh, while most of the others pretended to be Tibetan expats, who primarily re-shared content and news related to Tibet and amplified anti-Dalai Lama posts, Meta said.
“The network posted mainly in English and Tibetan about news related to Tibet and its politics, including criticism of exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, conspiracies about his travel and health, and claims that the United States is using him as a lever against China,” the report said.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington said Meta’s report “disregards facts and confuses right and wrong,” according to spokesperson Liu Pengyu.
“China firmly opposes this. I would like to emphasize that Tibet affairs are purely China’s internal affairs and no external forces are allowed to interfere,” said Liu. “The 14th Dalai Lama is a political exile in religious guise. He has long been engaged in anti-China separatist activities and attempted to split Tibet from China.”
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