NATO analysts investigated which social networks offer the easiest and cheapest way to buy fake engagement – likes, views, shares, comments. These can be used to amplify political content and influence action. The researchers also evaluated how platforms deal with this. The conclusions are not encouraging.
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More than two and a half years after the start of the war in Ukraine, including a hybrid war waged on social media, NATO's Strategic Communications Center (NATO StratCom COE) released a report on November 4, 2024, “Social Media Manipulation for Sales.” “, in which it examined the susceptibility of social media platforms to fake recruitment. This term includes the activity of fake accounts, as well as artificial likes, views, shares and comments, which can be bought in bulk from companies specializing in such activities, and thereby increasing the accessibility of specific content.
As part of the test, NATO analysts examined how easy it is to create fake accounts on various social media platforms and then promote their content using artificial likes, shares or purchased comments. It also examined how individual platforms deal with this type of activity, specifically, whether and how they remove questionable entries or withdraw inappropriately purchased engagements.
The conclusions are alarming: “Despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, the manipulation of social networks remains cheap and easily accessible. In addition, a significant part of the purchased abnormal traffic is not removed even after being reported by the platforms.”
Almost 12 thousand for PLN 250 like
Between August and September 2024, NATO analysts, as part of an experiment, bought fake engagement (likes, views, shares, comments) for 44 posts previously published on the six largest social media platforms: Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and VK (formerly VKontakte). Such services were procured from six private providers from the US, UK, Italy and Russia.
For 58 euros spent (about PLN 250), 1,150 unfounded comments, 3,150 shares, 8,2 thousand were bought. views and more than 11.7 thousand likes that appeared on pre-selected records. The authors of the report add that the cheapest way to buy such false attraction is Instagram, but it is not so expensive for TikTok and YouTube. Such engagement is most valuable in the case of website X. When it comes to specific types of fake engagement, the same amount of money can buy more likes, comments, and shares on Instagram, but more viewers on TikTok and
But why buy such an unreasonable attraction in social networks? The authors of the report admit that most of the “customers” use it for commercial purposes, that is, to promote records about cryptocurrencies and gambling, including sports betting. However, they note that “a worrying trend is the increase in the variety of political content due to purchased bot accounts year after year,” adding that because of this, “influence operations related to elections and other political processes can easily increase.” .” Here again, TikTok and X are pointed out as platforms that are particularly filled with false information that results from false intervention.
Analysts write that bots on both websites support pro-Russian content, artificially increasing the reach of messages that praise life in Russia, justify aggression in Ukraine, or import directly from Russian embassies. Most notably, the same accounts promoted pro-China articles on Sino-US relations and Taiwan independence. On site
Other topics that used artificial likes, shares or pre-bought opinions were: criticism of the European Commission, the World Doping Agency (publicized information accuses it of manipulation for the benefit of the West) or false entries about the gender of the Algerian Boxer Imane Khelif.
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The platforms are out of order, but the farms are working
How are social media platforms dealing with this wave of unconventional engagement on specific topics? Conclusion: mostly bad. NATO analysts calculated that after four weeks of using purchased opinions, shares or comments, TikTok, Instagram and VK did not even delete 2%. from them. Facebook took 6.5 percent, YouTube 21 percent, and X website 38 percent. “These results highlight the need for continued efforts to identify and eliminate inappropriate engagement. Eliminating inappropriate engagement will soon have a significant impact on the extent to which these communications can influence social media discussions, making them an important responsibility of the platforms. “, – wrote the authors of the report.
The data on the removal of fake accounts is also bad, which analysts reported to the platform administration without reason. In the five days of the report, Facebook only deleted 6%. of them, and all other platforms between 0.5 percent and 4 percent
The conclusions of this test are clear: “We observe a poor performance of the platforms in combating various types of abnormal activities. None of the social networks were able to identify and counter fake likes. Failure to combat 90% of fake opinions is a significant failure of video-oriented platforms such as YouTube and TikTok The only platform that made significant progress in combating fake comments and sharing was X, which identified and countered almost half of this activity.
At the same time, NATO reminds that troll farms and bots are not an imaginary threat, but a real phenomenon, as the war in Ukraine showed. Since the start of the attack, Ukrainian law enforcement and secret services have taken down more than 80 sites operating fake accounts using hundreds of SIM cards and special programs that spread and boosted Russian propaganda. The report estimates that there could be as many as 10 million such accounts in these defunct companies alone.
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