TikTok has just deleted 284 accounts related to a fake news group in China after Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, deleted 9,000 accounts tied to a spam network.
Meta said it had removed nearly 9,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts, groups, and pages linked to a China-based spam network targeting users in Australia and other parts of the world. During the investigation, Meta discovered that this network’s activities affected more than 50 online platforms and forums including YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, Pinterest, Medium, Blogspot, Livejournal, and X (formerly known as Twitter). in addition to Instagram and Facebook.
As noted by Guardian Australia, videos on TikTok focus mainly on responding to reports on labor conditions and information in Xinjiang and Taiwan. Many videos have tens of thousands of views.
Guardian Australia reported links to four TikTok accounts linked to the campaign on August 30, when the accounts were still active. On August 31, TikTok responded to confirm that 284 accounts related to the campaign had been banned by them for violating the company’s policy on influence activities.
According to TikTok’s Anti-Influence Policy, the company focuses on behavior and assesses the link between accounts and techniques to determine if actors are engaged in a concerted effort to trick TikTok’s system or the community. Account closures will be detailed in TikTok’s quarterly community guidelines enforcement report.
