Meta officials issued a warning that China, Iran, and Russia are planning potential "foreign covert influence operations" ahead of the United States' 2024 elections.
The social media company said that the three countries are coordinating with each other for the operations. Meta noted that the best way to deter such foreign actors from influencing American policies is through greater information sharing between the American government and various social media companies.
Meta Warns of Foreign Covert Influence Operations
Meta officials released a third-quarter "adversarial threat report" for November where they provided "key insights" into what is considered the global threat environment. It also included trends that they anticipate the society and industry would face coming into 2024 due to the many elections worldwide.
The report deemed China, Iran, and Russia the "most prolific geographical sources of foreign interference campaigns to date." It also addresses challenges with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).
Regarding the "information environment ahead of 2024," Meta officials warned of operations that seek to take control of authentic partisan narratives. They noted that evidence-based reporting is the key to countering perception hacking that seeks to sow doubt in democratic processes, as per Fox Business.
The social media company stressed that information sharing between industry, government, and civil society is crucial in detecting and disrupting foreign threats early. The report noted that while information exchange continues with experts across the country and civil society, threat sharing by the American government in the U.S. related to foreign election interference has been paused since July.
A federal judge ordered in July that the Biden administration agencies cease communication with social media companies to suppress the protected free speech of Americans. This was in regard to COVID-19 vaccines, elections, and several other issues.
However, Judge Terry Doughty notably made exceptions that allow federal agencies to continue communicating with social media companies to warn about potential risks to national security and criminal activity.
Dividing the United States
The report comes as someone from China created thousands of fake social media accounts that were designed to appear to be from Americans. These accounts were then used to spread polarizing political content. It was part of an apparent attempt to divide the U.S. ahead of its elections next year, according to the Associated Press.
It was found to be a network of roughly 4,800 fake accounts that attempted to build an audience before it was identified and eliminated by Meta. The accounts had fake photos, names, and locations to appear like everyday American Facebook users who comment on political issues.
The accounts did not post fake content similar to what other networks have done in the past. They instead reshared posts from X, formerly known as Twitter, that were initially posted by politicians, news outlets, and other accounts.
Meta's global threat intelligence, Ben Nimmo said that they believe it is important to build on the progress that the defender community has made since 2016. He said it is crucial to work together to keep evolving defenses against foreign interference, said CyberScoop.
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