Facebook announced that it has removed a network of bogus accounts and pages. It banned 13 accounts and 10 pages that had ties to Mytel, Myanmar’s fourth telecom provider that launched in 2018, and its foreign stakeholder, Vietnamese telecom Viettel. Facebook said the accounts and pages had posed as “independent telecom consumer news hubs” to spread misinformation about rival telecoms. Apparently, USD 1,155,000 had been spent in ads to promote the scheme, and roughly 265,600 accounts had followed the pages, according to data reported by Engadget. Facebook said it also removed networks of fake accounts in the United States and Ukraine.

Facebook dominates not only Myanmar’s social media market, but its online news market as well, with many Myanmar people receiving news and information mainly through articles and posts circulated on the service. Some critics fear this Facebook-dependency, coupled with low media literacy, makes Myanmar especially vulnerable to fake news campaigns. The service has mass-removed accounts several times in recent years, including accounts tied to military officials accused of spreading hate speech. In August, Facebook took down 107 pages and 15 groups it determined were “engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior.”

Earlier this month, U Myint Naing, a member of the Union Election Commission, said steps are being taken to protect the upcoming election from Facebook fakery. “There are plans to form a group that will monitor words being said on Facebook, to remove words that will impede or harm the election, and to delete words that can be classified as hate speech,” Eleven Media Group quoted him as saying.