Facebook Removes Fake Account, directly Linked with Government Information and Security Agency while Targeting Oromo Activist Who Are Critics of Ethiopian Prime Minister. On June 16th, 2021, Facebook reported that it removed a network of fake accounts in Ethiopia that posted critical commentary about opposition politicians and groups including the Oromo Liberation Front, Ethiopian Democratic Party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, and the U.S government.
Facebook stated that the accounts violated several rules and recently commented on U.S sanctions on Ethiopia. More than 1.1 million accounts followed one or more of the network’s pages and about 766,000 accounts joined one or more groups.
The deletion of these accounts come as a surprise as Facebook has suppressed and targeted Oromo activities on its platform. In addition, almost all Oromo rights activists lack verified user accounts, even those with hundreds of thousands of followers. Those that do have verified access often are restricted and blocked for sharing happenings in and out of Ethiopia. For example, Oromo activist Jawar Mohammed’s Facebook account was blocked in 2018 after posting images and videos of violent events happening in Ethiopia – resulting in an uproar from his 1.2 million supporters on the app.
More recently, other Oromo activities like Yayah Basher, Kadiro Elemo, and Ferhan Abdulselam – all with hundreds of thousands of followers – were restricted, blocked, and warned for making comments against Abiy. Facebook silencing Oromo activists on their platform, who are critics of Abiy, while allowing the Ethiopian government to continue misinformation for years, shows the platform’s complacency and lack of honor to free speech for its users.