Facebook removes troll network run by Nicaraguan Government

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, removed a troll farm made up of more than 1,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts on October 1. The troll network was run by the Nicaraguan government, the Sandinista National Liberation Front party.

“We found one portion of this network through our internal investigation into suspected coordinated inauthentic behavior in the region, and another portion — as a result of reviewing public reporting about some of this activity,” said Meta in their October 2021 Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Report.

The troll operation started in April 2018, when the Nicaraguan government cracked down on student-led protests, states the report. Between 2018 and 2019, the troll farm worked to discredit the protesters, spread false information, and report those who opposed the government.

At the end of 2019, the network became more robust: “it shifted away from primarily criticizing the opposition and protesters to large-scale amplification of its own media brands and pro-government content. The campaign appeared to aim at flooding the cross-internet environment in Nicaragua with pro-government messages.”

The troll network was removed because it violated Facebook’s policies on foreign or government interference.

“It fused covert, party-linked and state-linked activity, we repeatedly saw links between the troll Pages and Pages associated with the government or the FSLN party,” continues the report.

The network extended to other platforms, such as TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Blogspot, and Telegram. There were around 585,000 accounts following the Facebook pages, and 125,000 on Instagram, says the report.

Meta found investments of $12,000 for advertising for both social networks, paid in the Nicaraguan currency and US dollars.

The Nicaraguan government has been arresting opponents and critics of the regime on charges of treason or money laundering since June. Many claim the charges are unfounded and are aimed at getting Ortega re-elected.

The report was released days before this weekend’s presidential election. An election that the United States has described as a farce since many of the president’s rivals have been imprisoned.