E-Business
Facebook Removes Accounts from Nigeria, Ghana for Inauthentic Behaviour
Facebook announced the removal of 49 Facebook accounts, 69 Pages and 85 Instagram accounts for engaging in foreign interference, which is coordinated inauthentic behaviour on behalf of a foreign actor on Facebook, Instagram and other internet platforms.
This network according to Nathaniel Gleicher, Head of Security Policy, Facebook, “was in the early stages of building an audience and was operated by local nationals some wittingly and some unwittingly in Ghana and Nigeria on behalf of individuals in Russia. It targeted primarily the United States.
“The people behind this network engaged in a number of deceptive tactics, including the use of fake accounts some of which had already been disabled by our automated system to manage Pages posing as non-government organizations or personal blogs, and post in Groups.
“They frequently posted about US news and attempted to grow their audience by focusing on topics like black history, black excellence and fashion, celebrity gossip, news and events related to famous Americans like historical figures and celebrities, and LGBTQ issues.
The social media platform provider said, the activity did not appear to focus on elections, or promote or denigrate political candidates.
“They also shared content about oppression and injustice, including police brutality. Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their purpose and coordination, our investigation found links to EBLA, an NGO in Ghana, and individuals associated with past activity by the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA).
We detected this network as a result of our internal investigation into suspected coordinated inauthentic behavior ahead of US elections.
Facebook went further to explain that the network was linked to the activity they had previously removed and attributed to the IRA in April 2018, July 2018 and November 2018. “Our assessment benefited from our subsequent collaboration with a team of journalists at CNN.
“We’ve shared information with our industry peers, policy makers and law enforcement and will continue working with others to find and remove this kind of behavior from our platform”.
- Presence on Facebook and Instagram: 49 Facebook accounts, 69 Pages and 85 accounts on Instagram.
- Followers: About 13,500 accounts followed one or more of these Pages and around 265,000 people followed one or more of these Instagram accounts (about 65% of which were in the US).
- Advertising: Less than $5 was spent on ads focused on people in the US, none of which were political or issue ads. Our systems repeatedly rejected attempts by this network to run issue or political ads in the US because the people behind it were not authorized to run political ads in the US.
In total, we identified approximately $379 in spending for ads on Facebook and Instagram paid for in US dollars, the majority of which were run before this operation began by people who wittingly or unwittingly joined this network in the second half of 2019.
“We’re constantly working to detect and stop this type of activity because we don’t want our services to be used to manipulate people. We’re taking down these Pages and accounts because this activity was linked to individuals associated with the IRA, an entity we had previously banned from Facebook, they also used fake accounts and coordinated with one another and to mislead people about what they were doing. That behavior was the basis for our action, not the content they posted.
“In addition to announcing this enforcement action today, it will also be included in our monthly CIB report for March 2020.
“We are making progress rooting out this abuse, but as we’ve said before, it’s an ongoing challenge. We’re committed to continually improving to stay ahead. That means building better technology, hiring more people and working more closely with law enforcement, security experts and other companies”.
E-Business
Mobile App Usage to Drop By 25 Percent on AI Assistants- Study
By 2027 mobile app usage will decrease by 25 per cent due to AI assistants, according to Gartner, Inc. Smartphone users will turn to AI assistants, such as Apple Intelligence, ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Meta AI, and others to replace apps for many functions.
In addition to the impact of AI assistants, apps will be consolidated across separate brands and companies, creating mobile app partnerships or consortiums to reach more users per app at scale and defray the cost of creation and maintenance.
“CMOs should begin scenario planning for the impacts of decreased mobile app usage,” said Emily Weiss, senior principal for the Gartner Marketing Practice.
“Brands with low app engagement and retention will likely be first impacted – this will be a positive development for brands that are not overly reliant on driving revenue via apps as app development costs will decrease.
Other brands may be severely impacted by the disintermediation of users turning to AI assistants for services.
The loss of app users will also result in the loss of first-party data collection and the ability to reach fewer users via mobile push notifications,” she added.
By 2026, over 1/3 of web content will be created for the purposes of Gen-AI powered search.
According to Gartner’s 2024 CMO Spend Survey of 395 respondents between February and March 2024, the average CMO allocated almost a quarter of their digital marketing budget to search.
Other than end users directly visiting a website, search currently drives more traffic to the average commercial enterprise website than any other referral source.
Given this, a loss of search driven traffic due to algorithmic shifts by major search engines would result in tangible, negative commercial impact to any organisation.
“CMOs will need to direct their teams to hire talent with a strong understanding of how GenAI, and broader AI influences, impacts the performance of their content in search algorithms,” said Weiss.
“It will be important to upskill the function by investing in search and content talent with AI skillsets. These associates will need to have familiarity with creating or optimising content to train and rank within evolving search algorithms,” Weiss added.
By 2028 digital marketers will move 30 per cent of their paid social budget to support advertising and partnerships on subscription-based channels.
It is becoming more challenging for CMOs to maintain, let alone grow, their reach and engagement among consumers.
This is especially true as consumers shift their tech and media behaviors away from social media, to other platforms and subscription based channels.
Gartner’s 2024 CMO Spend survey found that since 2022, paid social has maintained the highest budget allocation for all digital media spend.
In 2024, B2C Marketing leaders reported allocating 14.3 per cent for their digital channel budget to social media advertising (an increase from 12.3% in 2023).
“Closed group communities and subscription channels offer a potential alternative for social media weary consumers and content creators who want to do more than feed the algorithm,” said Weiss.
“Brands can leverage closed-group subscription channels – such as Substack, Patreon, and Discord – and the professional creators on them to reach relevant target audiences who are already engaging with content they self-selected into consuming.”
By 2027, 85 per cent of customer data will be xollected from automated interactions or those led by AI agents. Current AI models, such as large language models (LLMs), lack the agency to autonomously execute tasks and adapt in complex environments.
However, as new levels of intelligence are added, new AI agents are poised to quickly become more capable and reliable as brands seek to address customer facing use cases.
“There will be more AI agents than people, so while current approaches require humans in the loop, this idea will quickly become antiquated.
“Marketers will need to determine when and how they can trust AI agents to act on behalf of the brand and customers across key areas,” said Weiss.
E-Business
NIMC Trains 388 Personnel to Boost NIN Enrolment
National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has kicked off a three-day training program for 388 personnel aimed at enhancing the National Identification Number (NIN) enrolment process across the country.
The training, tagged “Refresher Training of Trainers on NIN Integration to the National Social Register: Technical and hands-on devices and field operations and procedures”, is in collaboration with the National Social Safety-Net Coordinating Office.
The training is also to equip personnel with the necessary skills to efficiently handle the complexities of enrolment processes
In her address at the event held in Port Harcourt on Monday, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, director-general and chief executive officer, NIMC, noted that the initiative aligns with the commission’s overarching goal of achieving secured and great success for the Renewed Hope social initiatives.
Represented by Adedapo Adedoyin, her technical advisor on ICT, the NIMC DG said the event is a pivotal initiative that marks a significant step forward in our mission to enhance and modernize the National Identification Number enrolment process across Nigeria.
She stated, “Today, I am pleased to announce the launch of a comprehensive training program aimed at refreshing the technical and operational skills of the National Social Safety-Net Coordinating Office State Operations Coordinating Unit and NIMC staff.
“This initiative focuses on practical and field-based exercises, ensuring that our teams are well-equipped to handle the complexities of enrolment processes with precision and efficiency.
“This initiative aligns with our overarching goal of achieving secured and great success for the Renewed Hope social initiatives. Through verified digital identification, we aim to improve the lives of Nigerians by providing them with access to essential services and opportunities that require a reliable and secure identity verification system”.
Coker-Odusote explained that the training program will be conducted in two batches, encompassing four states: Kwara, Nasarawa, Kano, and Rivers. A total of 388 attendees will participate in this initiative, including 225 NASSCO State Operations Coordinating Unit representatives, 35 NIMC facilitators, and 128 State support staff.
She added, “The sessions are meticulously designed to foster knowledge sharing and hands-on experience with NIMC’s enrolment device and software, ensuring that our personnel are adept at using these tools to their full potential.
“By empowering our teams with enhanced skills and practical experience, we are setting the stage for more efficient and accurate NIN enrolment processes across the nation”.
Coker-Odusote further said the training program “is a crucial step toward achieving the World Bank’s Identification for Development Initiative target of enrolling 180 million Nigerians with secure digital IDs.
“By bolstering our technical and operational capabilities, we are ensuring that NIMC is well-positioned to meet and exceed this target, thereby contributing to the global vision of inclusive and accessible digital identification for all”.
The NIMC boss8 called for collaboration between all stakeholders saying, “As we embark on this journey, I urge all participants to embrace this opportunity for growth and development.
“Together, we can build a robust and efficient National Identification System that will serve as the cornerstone for Nigeria’s social and economic progress.”
E-Business
Kaspersky Discovers New Scam Scheme Targeting Businesses on Social Media
Kaspersky experts have uncovered a new phishing scam targeting businesses that promote their pages on Facebook. Scammers send emails allegedly on behalf of Meta for Business – Facebook’s platform for businesses – claiming the recipient’s page contains prohibited content.
The email suggests users provide explanations in order for their account and page to be unblocked. The goal of the attackers is likely to get access to users’ business accounts.
Kaspersky’s anonymised data shows that such emails started reaching users on 14 December 2024, with complaints coming from organisations all over the world, including the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa.
By examining the “From” field in the email it can be seen that the domain does not belong to Facebook. According to Kaspersky data the emails that this campaign used were sent from different domains.
The link in the email redirects users to Facebook Messenger. On Messenger, the account posing as Facebook’s support team appears legitimate, creating a false sense of trust.
There is an indication that this is a fan page, but it is easy to miss in a situation of high stress after being accused of spreading illegitimate content.
This scheme stands out for its sophistication. Unlike earlier scams that accused users of copyright violations and directed them to respond via email, this approach simulates internal communication on the Facebook platform itself.
“In 2025, we anticipate a rise in attacks leveraging social engineering and user trust in major platforms. Scams like this are becoming more sophisticated as attackers strive to mimic official services closely.
“Users must remain vigilant, verify the authenticity of messages, and avoid clicking on suspicious links. We strongly advise users not to engage with suspicious accounts and to activate additional security measures, such as two-factor authentication.
“If you receive such an email, report the incident to Facebook’s support team and update your passwords immediately if any information has been compromised,” comments Andrey Kovtun, Email Threats Protection Group Manager at Kaspersky.
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