What appeared to be the biggest “ Black Lives weigh ” page on Facebook was actually “ a scam with linkup to a middle - aged white humans in Australia,”CNN Techreported on Monday , and it managed to promote over $ 100,000 while send some of that money to Australian bank accounts .
Just as worrisome , CNN reported that Facebook ab initio declined to withdraw the page when contacted , even as other vis-a-vis in the industry quickly moved to do so :
Fundraising campaigns associated with the Facebook varlet were debar by PayPal and Patreon after CNN meet each of the ship’s company for remark . Donorbox and Classy had already take the campaigns .
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Only after almost a week of electronic mail and margin call between CNN and Facebook about this tale did Facebook suspend the varlet , and then only because it had suspend a user account that administrated the page .
According to the CNN report , the varlet had some 700,000 follower as well as a Facebook Group with 40,000 members , and did its damnedest to pry those users ’ money from their wallets by appropriate Black Lives Matter ’s anti - racist credentials . When CNN tried to get hold of the individuals behind the pages , they took them down . It was only subsequently , when Facebook banned a phony account identify “ BP Parker ” which was one of its number decision maker , that the Black Lives Matter page was also suspend , preventing its return .
CNN found that the Sir Frederick Handley Page repeatedly link up to sites tie to Ian MacKay , a “ National Union of Workers functionary in Australia . ” MacKay appears on registration records for dozens of internet site , including ones related to black right like blackpowerfist.com and blacklivesmatter.media . An unidentified source say CNN that some of the payments process via the fundraising sites were “ tied to an Australian IP address and bank account , ” and MacKay ’s name seem on one .
Allegations about the page werefirst raisedin December 2017 by free-lance investigator Jeremy Massler , after which its hustler briefly deactivated it before later make for it back online . Screenshots taken by Massler showed the page had a Facebook store advertising Black Lives weigh shirts ( $ 22.50 - 24.00 ) and mugs ( $ 25.00 ) .
MacKay told CNN he had only bought the domains as part of “ a personal hobby . ” He added that , “ What is the point in utter to you yield that you are going to hunt your story either way . ”
In any case , this incident visit into question Facebook ’s commitment to late announced insurance mean to increase transparency besiege varlet , and at just about the worst possible time . As CNN note , “ Not for the first time , Facebook took action against a major bad player on its site not on its own but because journalist made inquiries . ”
Russian operatives allegedly ran an extensive disinformation and propaganda campaign on Facebook that reached up to126 million Americansbefore the 2016 elections , 10 million of it via paid ads . Some of the Russian accounts in question likewise purport to act the Black Lives Matter movement or associated cause .
After month ofdenyingand thendownplayingthe plate of the issue , Facebook initially said it would necessitate anyonepurchasing electoral adsto affirm their score by listing a US speech and replying to a strong-arm mailer . It more recently herald thatit will require anyonerunning a large Sir Frederick Handley Page to undergo the verification outgrowth — which anyone able to benefit access to a US posting address could potentially back .
chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg willtestify before Congressthis week on both the Russian issue and a separate malicious gossip involve Cambridge Analytica , the shady election data house and Donald Trump military campaign vendor which allegedly partner with an app that harvest panoptic data point on at least 87 million Facebook users without their consent .
In that case , too , when Facebook get word years ago they had suffer ascendence of the user data point , they allegedly respond by mailing the company aform to check offcertifying it had been demolish . Not all that unlike than a postcard .
[ CNN Tech ]
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