Read on Twitter
1/9 My second report on the Ugandan Facebook takedown that resulted in the ban of social media days before the country's presidential elections for @DFRLab is out. https://medium.com/dfrlab/facebook-removes-inauthentic-assets-linked-to-ugandan-government-c3949be9f810
2/9 According to FB the network originated in #Uganda and targeted a domestic audience. It was removed for violating their policies against government interference aka coordinated inauthentic behaviour on behalf of a government entity. https://about.fb.com/news/2021/02/january-2021-coordinated-inauthentic-behavior-report/
3/9 The DFRLab identified the profiles of 6 govt officials included in the network, a fact that was backed up by @MoICT_Ug. https://twitter.com/UgandaMediaCent/status/1348977213098622976
4/9 The clusters of accounts focused on promoting Museveni and the NRM, presenting Museveni's son, Muhoozi, as a potential future candidate and targeting @HEBobiwine and the NUP.
5/9 Two PR firms were also involved in the network promoting Museveni. One was a registered company, the other was not, even though both put out ads to hire employees. They presented pro-NRM content as news, and even copied content directly from Museveni's socials.
6/9 One of the removed accounts was a political aspirant, Dixon Ampumuza. He also owned The Ugandan, a news site whose corresponding FB page was taken down for engaging in CIB.
7/9 Also included in the network was the page associated with ChimpReports, a news org with +200k followers on Twitter+FB, as well as the site's editor, bringing into question the legitimacy of the 10y/o website.
8/9 According to FB the network also spent $5,000 USD on ads on FB and Instagram.
9/9 Here is my first report on the original takedown, which occurred a week before the election where Museveni was elected president for the sixth time. https://medium.com/dfrlab/social-media-disinformation-campaign-targets-ugandan-presidential-election-b259dbbb1aa8
