A Russia-based disinformation push about COVID-19 vaccines wasn’t a traditional “influence” campaign, so much as it was partially a campaign on “influencers.” The subsidiary of a U.K.-registered marketing firm behind the effort, named Fazze, tried to spoon-feed popular accounts on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube a package of articles and instructions about the Pfizer vaccine, claiming that it obtained information about fatalities following a hack-and-leak operation. Instead, as Facebook outlined in a Tuesday report detailing the campaign, some of those influencers thought the offer was fishy and exposed it on social media. The campaign against Pfizer that began in May traced its beginnings back to November and December of 2020, with the first leg devoted to bashing the AstraZeneca vaccine. Its primary targets were India and Latin America, but to a smaller extent the United States, Facebook said. Facebook said it removed 243 Instagram accounts and 65 Facebook accounts from Russia […]
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