The Chinese government was behind a fake Swiss biologist named Wilson Edwards who was trying to convince the world that the United States was trying to blame China for the COVID-19 epidemic.
The claims were allowed to spread from July 24 to August 10, and stories of the US' "intimidation" were picked up across global social media and Chinese state media outlets.
It wasn't until August 10 that Facebook took the account down after the Beijing-based Swiss Embassy confirmed there was no record of a citizen named Wilson.
The account was created just 12 hours before it started posting. The fake persona that sprouted in China was reflected in the hall of mirrors.
The account claimed that WHO sources and researchers had complained about US pressure and intimidation regarding the agency's plans to study where and how the coronaviruses disease originated. There is no official scientific consensus on where and how COVID-19 came from.
Meta said that the initial spread of the "Wilson Edwards" story on the platform was inauthentic, the work of a multi-pronged, largely unsuccessful influence operation that originated in China.
The company said that there was a network of accounts that were inauthentic, but some of them were real and belonged to employees of Chinese state infrastructure companies.
This is the first time that Meta has found an operation that included a coordinated cluster of state employees. The company emphasized that there was no noticeable authentic engagement due to the inauthentic amplification efforts and the false claims were elevated by Chinese state media.
Meta said that the fake biologist was one of a number of accounts that were negatively impacting users and society. In November alone, the company said it removed accounts and linked suspected inauthentic behavior to the Belarusian KGB, as well as other incidents in Vietnam, Poland, and Palestine.
The report comes amidst mounting public pressure against Meta over what critics say is harm posed to society from its various social platforms.
The company has been accused of facilitating the spread of misinformation, including lies about COVID-19 and vaccines, as well as elections and other issues.
