One week before the presidential election in Nicaragua, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced Monday that it had detected and eliminated a thousand Facebook and Instagram accounts managed by a "troll factory" of the Nicaraguan government.
“It was really a local government operation. The troll factory was made up of several groups that were administered by multiple government entities, ”Meta's global head of security against influence operations, Ben Nimmo, told Agence France-Presse.
The "troll factory" had been in operation since April 2018, a period when the crackdown on demonstrations by opponents demanding the resignation of President Daniel Ortega left at least 300 dead.
In October, 937 Facebook accounts, 363 Instagram accounts, 140 Facebook pages and 24 social media groups were deleted in total. Accounts managed by the Nicaraguan government or by the party in power since 2007, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN, ex-Marxist guerrilla).
BRANCHES OF THE MAIN NETWORK
President Daniel Ortega is expected to run for a fourth consecutive term on Sunday. Since June, seven of his potential opponents for the presidential election, as well as some 40 opponents, have been arrested, imprisoned or placed under house arrest.
According to Ben Nimmo, the "troll factory" was mainly run by human beings, mostly employees of the Nicaraguan Institute of Posts and Telecommunications (Telcor) who worked from the premises of the public company headquarters in Managua. . The premises of the Supreme Court and the Social Security Institute were also used for these operations. All "these groups were technically connected to the main operation, so they weren't separate efforts, they were offshoots of the main network," he said.
"FAVORABLE MESSAGES TO THE GOVERNMENT AND AGAINST THE OPPOSITION"
According to the head of Meta, "the troll factory created or invented so-called means of communication on sites like Blogspot and WordPress, and disseminated them via accounts Twitter, YouTube, Telegram and TikTok, as well as Facebook and Instagram".
"The aim was to flood online conversations in Nicaragua with messages favorable to the government and against the opposition," said Ben Nimmo.
“We are eliminating these networks based on their behavior on our platform, not based on who acts under the guise of these networks or the content posted. We rely on the behavior and use of fake accounts, ”he stressed.
The Nicaraguan government's “troll factory” operated Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm, with a lunch break. Its production dropped significantly during the weekends.
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