Staying Current: an Investigation into a Now-Suspended Facebook Network Promoting the Palestinian Democratic Reform Current

On Thursday, January 28, 2021, Facebook suspended a network it identified that originated primarily in Gaza, but also in Belgium and the UAE. The network included 178 Pages, 3 Groups, 206 profiles and 14 Instagram accounts. Facebook shared this network with the Stanford Internet Observatory a few hours before it was suspended. The network was suspended not due to the content of its posts, but rather for what Facebook terms coordinated inauthentic behavior; assets in the network pretended to be people and entities they weren’t. The network primarily pushed narratives favorable to Mohammed Dahlan, the leader of the
Democratic Reform Current, a faction of the Palestinian Fatah party. Content was mainly in Arabic and Hebrew, but there were also posts in French and English. This is the first time Facebook has publicized a takedown of accounts originating in Gaza. While we are aware of claims that Facebook has unfairly suspended
Palestinian accounts in the past, we do not weigh in on this discussion. This report only analyzes this single network, which displays clear signs of inauthentic coordination and amplification, as well as impersonation of legitimate media entities.