DISARMframeworks/generated_pages/incidents/I00091.md

Incident I00091: Facebook uncovers Chinese network behind fake expert

• Summary: “Facebook owner Meta Platforms has removed more than 500 accounts linked to an online disinformation network primarily based in China.
  
  “The accounts had promoted the claims of a fake Swiss biologist called "Wilson Edwards", who alleged the US was meddling in efforts to find the origins of Covid-19.
  
  “Edwards' comments had been widely carried by Chinese state media outlets.
  
  “However, the Swiss embassy said that it was unlikely this person existed.
  
  “Meta said in its report the social media campaign was "largely unsuccessful," and targeted English-speaking audiences in the United States and Britain and Chinese-speaking audiences in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Tibet.”

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Reference	Pub Date	Authors	Org	Archive
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-59456548	2021/12/02	-	BBC News	https://web.archive.org/web/20240709132111/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-59456548

Technique	Description given for this incident
T0097.106 Recruiter Persona	IT00000316 “Earlier in July [2021], an account posing as a Swiss biologist called Wilson Edwards had made statements on Facebook and Twitter that the United States was applying pressure on the World Health Organization scientists who were studying the origins of Covid-19 in an attempt to blame the virus on China. “State media outlets, including CGTN, Shanghai Daily and Global Times, had cited the so-called biologist based on his Facebook profile. “However, the Swiss embassy said in August that the person likely did not exist, as the Facebook account was opened only two weeks prior to its first post and only had three friends. “It added "there was no registry of a Swiss citizen with the name "Wilson Edwards" and no academic articles under the name", and urged Chinese media outlets to take down any mention of him. [...] “It also said that his profile photo also appeared to have been generated using machine-learning capabilities.” In this example an account created on Facebook presented itself as a Swiss biologist to present a narrative related to COVID-19 (T0143.002: Fabricated Persona, T0097.106: Researcher Persona). It used an AI-Generated profile picture to disguise itself (T0145.002: AI-Generated Account Imagery).
T0143.002 Fabricated Persona	IT00000315 “Earlier in July [2021], an account posing as a Swiss biologist called Wilson Edwards had made statements on Facebook and Twitter that the United States was applying pressure on the World Health Organization scientists who were studying the origins of Covid-19 in an attempt to blame the virus on China. “State media outlets, including CGTN, Shanghai Daily and Global Times, had cited the so-called biologist based on his Facebook profile. “However, the Swiss embassy said in August that the person likely did not exist, as the Facebook account was opened only two weeks prior to its first post and only had three friends. “It added "there was no registry of a Swiss citizen with the name "Wilson Edwards" and no academic articles under the name", and urged Chinese media outlets to take down any mention of him. [...] “It also said that his profile photo also appeared to have been generated using machine-learning capabilities.” In this example an account created on Facebook presented itself as a Swiss biologist to present a narrative related to COVID-19 (T0143.002: Fabricated Persona, T0097.106: Researcher Persona). It used an AI-Generated profile picture to disguise itself (T0145.002: AI-Generated Account Imagery).
T0145.002 AI-Generated Account Imagery	IT00000317 “Earlier in July [2021], an account posing as a Swiss biologist called Wilson Edwards had made statements on Facebook and Twitter that the United States was applying pressure on the World Health Organization scientists who were studying the origins of Covid-19 in an attempt to blame the virus on China. “State media outlets, including CGTN, Shanghai Daily and Global Times, had cited the so-called biologist based on his Facebook profile. “However, the Swiss embassy said in August that the person likely did not exist, as the Facebook account was opened only two weeks prior to its first post and only had three friends. “It added "there was no registry of a Swiss citizen with the name "Wilson Edwards" and no academic articles under the name", and urged Chinese media outlets to take down any mention of him. [...] “It also said that his profile photo also appeared to have been generated using machine-learning capabilities.” In this example an account created on Facebook presented itself as a Swiss biologist to present a narrative related to COVID-19 (T0143.002: Fabricated Persona, T0097.106: Researcher Persona). It used an AI-Generated profile picture to disguise itself (T0145.002: AI-Generated Account Imagery).

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