Fake Facebook accounts shut down by Meta were ‘primed to polarise voters’

Someone in China created thousands of fake social media accounts designed to appear to be from Americans and used them to spread polarising political content in an apparent effort to divide the US before next year’s elections, Meta has said (Tony Avelar/AP)

Someone in China created thousands of fake social media accounts designed to appear to be from Americans and used them to spread polarising political content in an apparent effort to divide the US before next year’s elections, Meta has said.

The network of nearly 4,800 fake accounts was trying to build an audience when it was identified and eliminated by the tech company, which owns Facebook and Instagram.