Facebook takes down Chinese network behind fake Swiss biologist Covid claims

On 10 August the Swiss embassy in Beijing said it had no record of a citizen called Wilson Edwards and Facebook removed the account. Meta said the account had been created on 24 July, 12 hours before the fake biologist started posting on the social network. The company added that some of the 200 fake accounts that boosted the Wilson Edwards content within hours of it being posted had profile pictures created by an artificial intelligence programme.

In Belarus, the border crisis was the main factor too, as Meta removed 41 Facebook accounts and four Instagram accounts targeting the Middle East and Europe. Meta linked the network, which used fake accounts of people posing as EU journalists and activists, to the Belarusian KGB.