Deceptive 鈥榖ait-and-switch鈥� Facebook groups snare US voters: study

Dozens of Facebook groups bill themselves as Kamala Harris fan pages but mount racist attacks, criticize her record on immigration and promote her rival Donald Trump, in what disinformation researchers call a "bait-and-switch" tactic aimed at deceiving voters in a tight US election race. (AFP)
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  • Over 300 groups found masquerading as pro-Harris pages while misleading the Democratic contender鈥檚 supporters with abusive, hateful posts or capitalize on her popularity to promote merchandise
  • The 鈥渂ait-and-switch鈥� tactic appears to target actors across the political spectrum, including Trump, but does not appear to be an organized effort, says the study by American Sunlight Project

WASHINGTON: Dozens of Facebook groups bill themselves as Kamala Harris fan pages but mount racist attacks, criticize her record on immigration and promote her rival Donald Trump, in what disinformation researchers call a 鈥渂ait-and-switch鈥� tactic aimed at deceiving voters in a tight US election race.
The Washington-based American Sunlight Project analyzed over 300 groups on the Meta-owned platform that masquerade as pro-Harris pages while misleading the Democratic contender鈥檚 supporters with abusive, hateful posts or capitalize on her popularity to promote merchandise.
The proliferation of such Facebook groups, which typically bring together communities with shared interests, does not appear to be an organized effort and illustrates a sophisticated tactic to seed false election narratives in trusted online spaces.
鈥淭hese are usually places where there is a high level of trust between members, making them more likely to believe what is being shared there, whether that is election disinformation, miracle cures or memes,鈥� Nina Jankowicz, ASP鈥檚 co-founder and chief executive, told AFP.
The 鈥渂ait-and-switch鈥� tactic appears to target actors across the political spectrum, including Trump.
But Jankowicz, the former Department of Homeland Security disinformation chief, said her research outfit noticed an 鈥渆xplosion鈥� of such groups focused on Harris since she entered the presidential race over the summer.
One group purports to be a space for 鈥淜amala Harris fans,鈥� with its 鈥渁bout鈥� section hailing her as a 鈥渢railblazer, a symbol of diversity, and a champion for justice and equality.鈥�
But inside the group, posts seek to undermine Harris, including one with a photo of a brown woman smearing her face with black paint alongside the caption: 鈥淜amala getting ready to talk to Black people.鈥�
The post echoed Trump鈥檚 false claim that Harris 鈥渢urned Black鈥� and that she was exploiting her race to woo African-American voters.
Harris is the first Black, South Asian and woman vice president in US history.

Promoting Trump rhetoric

Another group that calls itself 鈥淒emocratic voices for President Kamala Harris 2024鈥� posted messages in support of 鈥淢ake America Great Again鈥� 鈥� the political movement and slogan popularized by Trump.
One video posted in the group showed Charlie Kirk 鈥� a conservative influencer whose political organization is focused on getting Trump reelected 鈥� promoting the Republican鈥檚 anti-immigrant rhetoric.
A similar group savaged Harris as a 鈥渂order czar鈥� who has failed to curb undocumented migration into the United States 鈥� an attack line constantly repeated by Trump and his supporters.
One other group calling itself 鈥淜amala Harris 2024鈥� posted a sexist meme mocking the preference of some voters for a 鈥渇emale president鈥� in the face of what it depicted as pressing issues confronting the country.
Many of the 鈥淗arris鈥� groups analyzed by ASP were run by lone actors, including some non-US moderators in Africa or Eastern Europe.
Some groups posted about topics unrelated to the vice president, including religious cult-like content, and were hotbeds for spam and merchandise sales. Many were not started from scratch, having changed their names several times to capitalize on trending issues to gain traction, ASP said.

Violation of Meta policies
In a statement to AFP, a Meta spokesman said: 鈥淧rotecting the election on our platforms is one of our top priorities, and we continue to enforce our policies when we find violating content or behavior.鈥�
Meta has previously extolled Facebook groups in commercials for their power to bring people together.
The so-called bait-and-switch strategy appears to violate Meta鈥檚 policies regarding inauthentic behavior or 鈥渃omplex deception,鈥� which among other things forbids the use of its platforms to deceive users about the purpose of content.
ASP said the groups it analyzed were a representative sample and it was unable to get a fulsome picture of the scale of the abuse after Meta in August shut down CrowdTangle 鈥� a digital tool researchers hailed as vital in monitoring falsehoods.
Meta has replaced it with a Content Library, a technology that has similar functionality but is still under development.
ASP shared samples of a handful of similar 鈥渂ait-and-switch鈥� groups dedicated to Trump.
鈥淭his phenomenon isn鈥檛 unique to Harris 鈥� groups are used and abused this way across the political spectrum and across topics,鈥� Jankowicz said.
鈥淎s we get closer to Election Day and during what is likely to be a tumultuous transition period to follow, it鈥檚 important that people slow down and try to be more deliberate when consuming content online,鈥� she added.