On January 10, 2019 Facebook banned a digital marketing group in the Philippines — Twinmark Media Enterprises and all its subsidiaries — from Facebook. According to Nathaniel Gleicher, Head of Cyber security Policy, “This organization has repeatedly violated our misrepresentation and spam policies — including through coordinated inauthentic behavior, the use of fake accounts, leading people to ad farms, and selling access to Facebook Pages to artificially increase distribution and generate profit.”
Based on Twinmark’s official website, TMMI is a young, digital company based in the Philippines. Founded in 2014, they own and manage websites in different market niches catering to the interests of its many followers and readers. Their company provides engaging content shared among various online audiences. TMMI sites garner over 1 billion engagements monthly. According to data gathered by Rappler, Twinmark is also the company behind Trending News Portal, the top website shared by former Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson.
Facebook released a breakdown of what they have removed as part of the ban:
- Presence on Facebook and Instagram: 220 Facebook Pages; 73 Facebook accounts; 29 Instagram accounts
- Followers: About 43 million accounts followed at least one of these Facebook Pages
- Facebook Pages with highest number of followers:
- Filipino Channel Online: 10.4 million
- Gorgeous Me: 5.7 million
- Unhappy: 4.9 million
- Text Message: 4.4 million
- TNP Media: 4.3 million
“We do not want our services to be used for this type of behavior, nor do we want the group to be able to reestablish a presence on Facebook,” Gleicher said.
Gleicher said their investigation into Twinmark began after they learned the company was selling admin rights to Facebook Pages it had created, in order to increase distribution and generate profit, which violates their spam policy. He reiterated the reason for ban is the violation of the policies and not their content.
“This prompted our teams to take a deeper look at a broader group of Pages and accounts associated with these users, ultimately uncovering a large network of Pages and accounts that were engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior, the use of fake accounts, leading people to ad farms and selling access to Facebook Pages,” Gleicher added. The investigation, according to Gleicher, began in November 2018.
Gleicher believes that this step is just one of the many steps they will take to prevent “bad actors” from abusing the platform. Now that the 2019 election campaign has begun, Facebook’s promise of investing heavily in safety and security will for sure be put to test.
Lilly 