Technique T0151.003: Online Community Page

Summary: A Facebook Page is an example of an Online Community Page.

Online Community Pages allow Administrator Accounts to post content to the page, which other users can interact with. Pages can be followed or liked by other users - but these users can’t initiate new posts to the page.
Belongs to tactic stage: TA07

Incident	Descriptions given for this incident
I00106 Facebook Is Being Flooded With Gross AI-Generated Images of Hurricane Helene Devastation	As families desperately seek to find missing loved ones and communities grapple with immeasurable losses of both life and property in the wake of [2024’s] Hurricane Helene, AI slop scammers appear to be capitalizing on the moment for personal gain. A Facebook account called "Coastal Views" usually shares calmer AI imagery of nature-filled beachside scenes. The account's banner image showcases a signpost reading "OBX Live," OBX being shorthand for North Carolina's Outer Banks islands. But starting this weekend, the account shifted its approach dramatically, as first flagged by a social media user on X. Instead of posting "photos" of leaping dolphins and sandy beaches, the account suddenly started publishing images of flooded mountain neighborhoods, submerged houses, and dogs sitting on top of roofs. But instead of spreading vital information to those affected by the natural disaster, or at the very least sharing real photos of the destruction, the account is seemingly trying to use AI to cash in on all the attention the hurricane has been getting. The account links to an Etsy page for a business called" OuterBanks2023," where somebody who goes by "Alexandr" sells AI-generated prints of horses touching snouts with sea turtles, Santa running down the shoreline with a reindeer, and sunsets over ocean waves. A Facebook page which presented itself as being associated with North Carolina which posted AI generated images changed to posting AI generated images of hurricane damage after Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina (T0151.003: Online Community Page, T0151.001: Social Media Platform, T0115: Post Content, T0086.002: Develop AI-Generated Images (Deepfakes), T0068: Respond to Breaking News Event or Active Crisis). The account included links (T0122: Direct Users to Alternative Platforms) to an account on Etsy, which sold prints of AI generated images (T0146: Account Asset, T0148.007: eCommerce Platform).
I00108 How you thought you support the animals and you ended up funding white supremacists	This article examines the white nationalist group Suavelos’ use of Facebook to draw visitors to its website without overtly revealing their racist ideology: Suavelos uses Facebook and other platforms to amplify its message. In order to bypass the platforms’ community standards and keep their public pages active, Facebook pages such as “I support the police” are a good vehicle to spread a specific agenda without claiming to be racist. In looking back at this Facebook page, we followed Facebook’s algorithm for related pages and found suggested Facebook pages [...] This amplification strategy on Facebook is successful, as according to SimilarWeb figures, it attracts around 111,000 visits every month on the Suavelos.eu website. [...] Revenue through online advertisements can be achieved by different platforms through targeted advertisements, like Google Adsense or Doubleclick, or related and similar sponsored content, such as Taboola. Accordingly, Suavelos.eu uses both of these websites to display advertisements and consequently receives funding from such advertisements. Once visitors are on the website supporting its advertisement revenue, Suavelos’ goal is to then turn these visitors into regular members of Suavelos network through donations or fees, or have them continue to support Suavelos. Suevelos created a variety of pages on Facebook which presented as centring on prosocial causes. Facebook’s algorithm helped direct users to these pages (T0092: Build Network, T0151.001: Social Media Platform, T0153.006: Content Recommendation Algorithm, T0151.003: Online Community Page, T0143.208: Social Cause Persona). Suevelos used these pages to generate traffic for their WordPress site (T0122: Direct Users to Alternative Platforms, T0152.003: Website Hosting Platform, T0152.004: Website Asset), which used accounts on a variety of online advertising platforms to host adverts (T0146: Account Asset, T0153.005: Online Advertising Platform).

Incident

Descriptions given for this incident

I00106 Facebook Is Being Flooded With Gross AI-Generated Images of Hurricane Helene Devastation

As families desperately seek to find missing loved ones and communities grapple with immeasurable losses of both life and property in the wake of [2024’s] Hurricane Helene, AI slop scammers appear to be capitalizing on the moment for personal gain.

A Facebook account called "Coastal Views" usually shares calmer AI imagery of nature-filled beachside scenes. The account's banner image showcases a signpost reading "OBX Live," OBX being shorthand for North Carolina's Outer Banks islands.

But starting this weekend, the account shifted its approach dramatically, as first flagged by a social media user on X.

Instead of posting "photos" of leaping dolphins and sandy beaches, the account suddenly started publishing images of flooded mountain neighborhoods, submerged houses, and dogs sitting on top of roofs.

But instead of spreading vital information to those affected by the natural disaster, or at the very least sharing real photos of the destruction, the account is seemingly trying to use AI to cash in on all the attention the hurricane has been getting.

The account links to an Etsy page for a business called" OuterBanks2023," where somebody who goes by "Alexandr" sells AI-generated prints of horses touching snouts with sea turtles, Santa running down the shoreline with a reindeer, and sunsets over ocean waves.

A Facebook page which presented itself as being associated with North Carolina which posted AI generated images changed to posting AI generated images of hurricane damage after Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina (T0151.003: Online Community Page, T0151.001: Social Media Platform, T0115: Post Content, T0086.002: Develop AI-Generated Images (Deepfakes), T0068: Respond to Breaking News Event or Active Crisis).

The account included links (T0122: Direct Users to Alternative Platforms) to an account on Etsy, which sold prints of AI generated images (T0146: Account Asset, T0148.007: eCommerce Platform).

I00108 How you thought you support the animals and you ended up funding white supremacists

This article examines the white nationalist group Suavelos’ use of Facebook to draw visitors to its website without overtly revealing their racist ideology:

Suavelos uses Facebook and other platforms to amplify its message. In order to bypass the platforms’ community standards and keep their public pages active, Facebook pages such as “I support the police” are a good vehicle to spread a specific agenda without claiming to be racist. In looking back at this Facebook page, we followed Facebook’s algorithm for related pages and found suggested Facebook pages

[...]

This amplification strategy on Facebook is successful, as according to SimilarWeb figures, it attracts around 111,000 visits every month on the Suavelos.eu website.

[...]

Revenue through online advertisements can be achieved by different platforms through targeted advertisements, like Google Adsense or Doubleclick, or related and similar sponsored content, such as Taboola. Accordingly, Suavelos.eu uses both of these websites to display advertisements and consequently receives funding from such advertisements.

Once visitors are on the website supporting its advertisement revenue, Suavelos’ goal is to then turn these visitors into regular members of Suavelos network through donations or fees, or have them continue to support Suavelos.

Suevelos created a variety of pages on Facebook which presented as centring on prosocial causes. Facebook’s algorithm helped direct users to these pages (T0092: Build Network, T0151.001: Social Media Platform, T0153.006: Content Recommendation Algorithm, T0151.003: Online Community Page, T0143.208: Social Cause Persona).

Suevelos used these pages to generate traffic for their WordPress site (T0122: Direct Users to Alternative Platforms, T0152.003: Website Hosting Platform, T0152.004: Website Asset), which used accounts on a variety of online advertising platforms to host adverts (T0146: Account Asset, T0153.005: Online Advertising Platform).

Counters	Response types

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Technique T0151.003: Online Community Page

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