Meta removed several fake pro-Khalistan Facebook, Instagram accounts operated from China, they were inciting with fake news

New Delhi : Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, has revealed China’s nefarious intentions to spread instability and unrest in India. The company has revealed how fake Facebook and Instagram accounts have been created from China to show support and atmosphere in favor of Khalistani terrorists in India. The target of these fake accounts was the Sikh community around the world, among whom efforts were being made to arouse pro-Khalistan sentiments. Meta has removed 37 Facebook accounts, 13 pages, 5 groups and 9 Instagram accounts promoting Khalistan. The company has found the activities of these accounts suspicious and inauthentic. Fake news, photos, manipulated videos and propaganda were being posted through these accounts. Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, said in its ‘Adversarial Threat Report’ that it has removed these accounts, pages and groups for violating its policy against “coordinated inauthentic behavior”.

In its Adversarial Threat Report for the first quarter of 2024, Meta said, ‘This network was created in China and targeted the global Sikh community, including Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, the UK and Nigeria.’

Meta said the activity involved a group of multiple fake accounts operated from China that targeted India and the Tibet region.

“Some of these groups promoted each other, many of them using fake accounts to make the campaign appear more popular than it actually was,” the report said.

Meta further said, ‘Fake and suspicious accounts were used in this operation – some of which were already detected and deactivated by our automated systems before our investigation.’ These fake accounts were created with Sikh identities.

The nefarious conspiracy of ‘Operation K’ was hatched from China

The Meta report said the China-based network created a fictitious Operation K that called for “pro-Sikh protests”, including in New Zealand and Australia. It also claimed that it identified and removed “Operation K” activities before they could garner a large audience. “They posted primarily about news and current events in English and Hindi, possibly including images manipulated using photo editing tools or created by AI. They also included posts about floods in the Punjab region, the Sikh community around the world, the alleged movement for Khalistan, the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar (Khalistani terrorist), and criticism of the Indian government,” Meta said.