Facebook has deleted a network of fake accounts that posted information about this year's US election .
According to information revealed by the social networking site on Tuesday, the accounts belong to Chinese users.
Facebook has detected fake accounts from China before, but this is the first time it has found Chinese accounts posting reports on US politics and taken them down as a result. The company detailed its investigation in a report, in which it identified two separate networks that coordinated with each other.
One network originated in China and consisted of more than 155 accounts that had amassed at least 133,000 followers and a group with members reaching 61,000 users.
Although Facebook says the group “focused most of its activity” on Southeast Asia, some of the accounts also posted about U.S. politics “and took positions both for and against presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden , and Donald Trump.”
The accounts focused on the US did not have many followers but the removals were significant enough that the company chose to disclose the move ahead of its monthly report on coordinated "inauthentic" behavior.
The second network is linked to the Philippine military and police, according to Facebook. It had 276,000 followers on Facebook and 5,500 on Instagram and posted mainly about internal politics in the Philippines and the military, according to information from Engadget.
News of the removals comes as Facebook continues to strengthen its policies ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The social media platform and other platforms have met with government officials to discuss election security, while there are also scenarios in case of "chaotic" consequences after the election.
