A media outlet called The BL used networks of fake Facebook accounts, many with AI-generated profile photos, to create and manage pro-Trump groups that artificially amplified their content to approximately 55 million users.
The BL (The Beauty of Life), a digital media outlet connected to The Epoch Times and Falun Gong movement, operated a coordinated inauthentic behavior campaign on Facebook from 2019-2020. The operation involved creating over 610 fake Facebook accounts, 156 groups, and 89 pages to artificially promote pro-Trump political content. Many fake profiles used AI-generated faces created by generative adversarial networks (GANs) as profile photos, marking the first large-scale deployment of AI-generated images in a social media influence operation. The network was operated by individuals in Vietnam and the US, with fake accounts serving as administrators of Facebook groups with names like 'America Needs President Trump' and 'WE STAND WITH TRUMP & PENCE.' These accounts posted large quantities of content from The BL and Epoch Times to boost engagement and funnel traffic to their websites. Facebook eventually removed the entire network in December 2019 for coordinated inauthentic behavior, banning The BL from the platform. The operation reached about 55 million followers and involved less than $9.5 million in advertising spending. Researchers from Graphika and DFRLab identified 18 AI-generated face images used in the campaign, with experts assessing one image as GAN-generated with 99.9% certainty.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to conduct large-scale disinformation campaigns, malicious surveillance, or targeted and sophisticated automated censorship and propaganda, with the aim of manipulating political processes, public opinion, and behavior.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed