NBC News: “Facebook said Thursday that it has taken down hundreds of fake accounts created by a marketing company that worked with the young conservative group Turning Point USA to invade the comments sections of mainstream publishers and denigrate Democratic politicians. The marketing company, Rally Forge, worked on behalf of Turning Point USA to create 200 fake identities on Facebook and 76 on Instagram, as well as 55 Facebook pages, the social media giant said in a blog post.”
“Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, said that Rally Forge’s ‘action on behalf of [Turning Point USA] was largely politically focused, directly around the election.’ The accounts lingered in comment sections of Facebook pages of mainstream news sources including The Washington Post, The New York Times and MSNBC, and attacked Joe Biden and left-leaning politicians while praising President Donald Trump. NBCUniversal is the parent company of MSNBC and NBC News. The identities ‘used stock profile photos and posed as right-leaning individuals from across the U.S.’ and their ‘sole activity on our platform was associated with this deceptive campaign,’ Facebook said.”