Facebook removes hyperlocal news pages that promoted political party members in Ukraine
Tags: Politics, Social Media, Ukraine, Government, Facebook

On November 5, 2020, Facebook removed 94 assets connected to the Ukrainian political party Batkyvschyna (“Motherland”) for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior.

The DFRLab independently identified 10 pages that ultimately appeared in this takedown. Overall, the DFRLab had access to a subset of 54 assets, including user accounts, pages, groups, and Instagram accounts. Some of the pages primarily presented themselves as focused on hyperlocal news; others were either supportive of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or dedicated to mocking a specific politician.

In its announcement, Facebook stated the following:

This network posted primarily in Ukrainian about news and current events in Ukraine like politics and elections, including supportive commentary about Yulia Timoshenko and Batkyvshyna party and criticism of its political opponents, President Zelensky and former President Poroshenko. This activity primarily centered around recent elections, including presidential and parliamentary elections in 2019 and local elections in 2020. […] Although the people behind this network attempted to conceal their identities, our investigation found links to MAS Agency, a PR firm in Ukraine, and individuals associated with Yulia Timoshenko’s campaign and Batkivshchyna, a political party in Ukraine.

There was open-source evidence of both coordination and inauthenticity among the assets. Some pages in the set coordinated to push a specific agenda, often using the same content, sharing connected webpages, and boosting particular political figures. Within the set, DFRLab identified multiple fake accounts that used profile pictures stolen from other sources, alongside the real accounts of people connected to a digital advertising agency, Modern Advertisement Solutions Ltd, as well as the Motherland party.

Ukraine had local elections on October 25. The Motherland party has consistently secured seats in Ukraine’s parliament since 2002. The party identifies as a pro-European populist party and is currently in opposition to Zelensky’s majority. Over the years, Motherland has tried to reinvent itself by merging with other parties’ platforms, but one thing has remained constant: its charismatic leader Yulia Tymoshenko, the party’s main public face.

The party’s base is dispersed across the country, with the most significant support in western and central Ukraine. In the last local elections in 2015, Motherland was the second popular political party and received 12 percent of the vote. In this election, Motherland nominated the most candidates among all of the parties, and it has done so for all regional councils. According to one survey, Motherland is projected to secure 4th place in the elections for regional councils and the Kyiv city council.

“Typical district” pages

The DFRLab categorized the assets it received under four categories. Twelve of the assets followed the same naming convention, titled after one of the Kyiv city districts or other cities preceded by the word Типовий (“Typical” in Ukrainian). Twelve additional pages had unique names, but each focused on mocking a specific politician by publishing memes or articles that put the discussed politician in a negative light. An additional five pages mocked more than one politician, again posting primarily memes and negative stories. Finally, a trio of pages focused on providing positive coverage of President Zelensky and amplifying his official statements.

Out of the 12 that followed the “Typical” naming convention, 10 were named after Kyiv city districts, and nine of these pages were registered over a period of three days in June 2020. The pages characterize themselves as “resident communities” for each corresponding district. Each page published district news on local topics such as water purification or park reconstruction. While they published links, the pages did not amplify any single outlet disproportionally. They also ran ads paid by what appeared to be the same company, “MAS Agency,” but with variations in the registered company name, including “mas-agency” and “Modern Advertisement Solutions Ltd.”