Fake accounts on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram pushed conservatives to run for office as independents

A network of social media accounts used Meta to promote a fictitious political advocacy group, which attempted to recruit conservative candidates to run as independents - part of a rush of campaigns infiltrating the platform ahead of the 2024 election.

Meta removed dozens of social media accounts and pages amplifying Patriots Run Project, a group purporting to be a national grassroots organization but that appeared to be run by a small U.S.-based group, the RT Group. Though it criticized both Republicans and Democrats, it offered conservatives step-by-step instructions on how to run for office, the company said.

The social media influence operation, one of six Meta reported taking down, illustrates the looming threats facing internet platforms at they prepare for the 2024 election. Along with domestic actors, foreign actors including Russia are renewing efforts to influence political discourse in the United States, according to Meta.

Those campaigns often aim to “amplify messaging from real people, whether those are politicians, journalists or influencers, and then tap into their audiences,” said David Agranovich, Meta’s global threat disruption director.

The Patriots Run Project built accounts for fake Americans that posted content about local sports teams, events and restaurants to appear authentic, according to Meta. The network of accounts, some of which were acquired by a Bangladesh entity, elevated criticisms of “Republican and Democrat elites” and posted on topics like “God,” “guns” and “illegal immigrants,” the company said. The group also operated websites and at least one account on X.

The group’s 16 Facebook pages had 1,700 followers, while three Instagram pages associated with the campaign had 2,300 followers, according to the company. Meta also disabled 12 Facebook groups and 96 Facebook accounts associated with the effort. The influence campaign also spent around $50,000 on ads on Meta’s social networks, the company said.

The Patriots Run Project group also appeared to have some offline activity. A purported volunteer for the group appeared to successfully persuade a Montana man to run for office, according to Politico.

But the threat of foreign efforts to sway American voters is increasing in the run-up to the election. Earlier this month, the Trump campaign said it had been hacked after an internal campaign document vetting Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance was released. The FBI is investigating suspected hacking attempts by Iran targeting both a Trump associate and advisers to the Biden-Harris campaign, The Washington Post has reported.

Foreign operatives are increasingly targeting journalists and public figures to lend credibility to favorable narratives, Agranovich said.

Meta also said Thursday that it removed four Russian-based foreign influence campaigns that sought to undermine Ukraine. While Russian-based influence campaigns - including the persistent Doppelgänger operation - used to post about a wide variety of topics, since 2022 they have concentrated on the war in Ukraine. One Russian campaign targeted audiences in the European Union and the United States with narratives about casualties among Ukrainian soldiers and claims that Ukraine’s government has failed to protect its people, according to Meta.

Some covert influence operations are increasingly relying on outside contractors and are experimenting with generative artificial intelligence to help develop fake personas and content, Agranovich said. The operations often use fictitious news websites or journalists’ accounts to seem credible, he added.