Meta, the holding company that controls Facebook and Instagram, announced this Thursday (7) that it had identified and taken down a network of profiles and accounts linked to two Brazilian Army soldiers who were running a disinformation operation on environmental issues.
A report produced by the digital intelligence company Graphika, which carried out an independent investigation using data provided by Facebook, showed that the profiles created by the duo criticized the actions of non-governmental organizations and praised the action of the Army in the fight against deforestation in the Amazon. . The names of the soldiers were not released.
“Although the people behind it tried to hide their identities and coordination, our investigation found links with individuals associated with the Brazilian Army,” Meta says. The reports also do not say whether the pair acted alone or at the behest of someone.
BBC News Brasil questioned the Army about the Meta report and the alleged action by the military, but the agency did not respond.
According to Meta, the network operated by the military consisted of four profiles and nine Facebook pages and 39 Instagram accounts.
Some of them, according to the investigation, used photos created from artificial intelligence.
The Graphika report points out that the group’s performance had two phases. In the first, they created profiles that disseminated criticism of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in relation to topics such as government policy on the Covid-19 epidemic. The second phase of the group’s activities was dedicated to environmental issues.
The Meta and Graphika reports do not explain why the two phases of the operation took different approaches. The two companies stated that the focus was on investigating inauthentic behavior involving profiles and pages on Facebook and Instagram.
Fake NGO network
As of 2019, the Brazilian government has been criticized internationally for the increase in deforestation and the amount of fires in the Amazon. Under pressure, President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) authorized the use of the Armed Forces in an attempt to contain the crisis.
In public demonstrations, both President Jair Bolsonaro and the then Environment Minister Ricardo Salles countered international criticism from countries like France and attacked the actions of environmental NGOs that denounced the advance of deforestation in the country.
According to the document, the second phase of the operation carried out by the military took place between May and June 2021. For this, the group created at least three profiles of fake environmental NGOs that tried to generate engagement with the public.
These profiles had names like “NaturAmazon”, “Sustainable Amazon” and “Verde Mais”.
Graphika researchers found that the address indicated in the NaturAmazon profile corresponded to a petshop in Manaus.
In the case of Amazônia Sustentável, the address provided by those responsible for the profile was the headquarters of the NGO Greenpeace, in São Paulo.
According to the report, part of the content posted on the NaturAmazon profile, for example, was composed of praise for the actions of the military.
“The group promoted a central narrative about the need to protect the forest and its biodiversity, often praising government efforts to combat deforestation. […] In general, NaturAmazon only posted statistics and news about deforestation that portrayed the Brazilian government and the military in a positive light,” the document says.
Criticism of the action of environmentalists
And at the same time that the fake profiles spread praise for the government’s actions, another account operated by the group criticized the actions of environmental organizations and in defense of human rights. The profile was baptized as “O Fiscal das ONGs” and operated on both Instagram and Twitter.
The name resembles another profile, O Fiscal do Ibama, with more than 142 thousand followers on Twitter and which became known for criticizing the government’s environmental policy.
According to the report, the “O Fiscal das ONGs” account tried to “undermine” the credibility of Brazilian non-governmental organizations that work in defense of the environment and that are critical of the environmental policy of the Bolsonaro government, such as the Instituto Socioambiental and Instituto do Man and Environment of the Amazon (Imazon). The posts also accused members of these NGOs of crimes such as embezzlement.
“The NGO Inspector posted content on Instagram and Twitter that sought to undermine the credibility of environmental NGOs working in the Amazon region. […] The accounts accused executives of these NGOs of embezzling money raised to help indigenous peoples in the Amazon and manipulating data on deforestation trends to serve foreign interests.
Identification on the Transparency Portal
The Graphika report goes into more detail on how the military behind the network taken down by Facebook was identified. According to the document, the fake accounts taken down belonged to two people serving in the Army until at least December 2021.
The company’s investigators cross-referenced data from the profiles they maintained on social networks and identified patterns that would prove that they were profiles of real people. After that, they cross-referenced this data as the payment base for the federal government’s Portal da Transparência.
“Most notably, the Facebook profiles and Instagram accounts of the set that was taken down belonged to two individuals who were actively serving in the Brazilian Army as of December 2021, according to available payment records,” reads an excerpt from the Graphika report.
Graphika says the discovery of the network operated by the Brazilian military is particularly important because the country will hold elections in October this year.
“This is particularly relevant in Brazil, which has a history of politically motivated actors engaging in coordinated and harmful online behavior and which is about to hold presidential elections in October this year,” the company said.
She also recalls the investigations carried out by the Federal Police into allies of President Bolsonaro who would have orchestrated attacks against his opponents and shows the attempt to weaken the Brazilian political environment.
“This newfound activity did not target the upcoming elections, but illustrates the scope of actors trying to manipulate Brazil’s polarized and fragile political environment,” the report says.
