On Wednesday, the American online newspaper, the Daily Beast revealed how an account on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter allegedly led by the Russian government stole the identity of an authentic Muslim organization to share Islamophobic propaganda and conspiracy theories online. The group posted memes about politics, Osama ben Laden, ISIS and Hillary Clinton provoking chaos and tension among Muslims in the USA. With more than 268,000 Facebook subscribers and nearly 71,000 followers, the recently-shuttered United Muslims of America (UMA) account was not owned by American Muslims. In fact, the group is allegedly controlled by the Russian authorities to manipulate the American public opinion and create chaos throughout social media platforms. On Wednesday, 27th of September, the Daily Beast, an American news and opinion website focused on politics and pop culture, published an investigation about the two accounts on Instagram and Facebook that made headlines since the beginning of the US presidential election. It says that «Kremlin trolls stole the identity of an authentic U.S. Muslim organization-first to smear John McCain and Hillary Clinton, then to sing her praises». «The Facebook group United Muslims of America was neither united, Muslim, nor American. Instead, sources familiar with the group tell The Daily Beast, it was an imposter account on the world's largest social network that's been traced back to the Russian government». Propaganda and false information through memes The Daily Beast explains how this false account published on Facebook several memes to affirm that Hillary Clinton have allegedly admitted that all of Al Qaeda and ISIS were created by the United States of America, which never happened. The account sponsored its posts to reach more Muslims in the US and make them consume its propaganda. The same group also used Instagram, Twitter and a Facebook group. Unlike other fake accounts linked to Russians, the group entitled «United Muslims of America» has presented itself as a real organization. The actual UMA which is a non-profit NGO based in California, works on «promoting interfaith dialogue and political participation». Founded thirty years ago, the real UMA is currently inactive due to some organizational changes, as declared by the same source. «The imposter account identified itself as the 'United Muslims of America', and used the URL Facebook.com/MuslimAmerica, which may have helped Russia obscure its masquerade. The real United Muslims of America operates a Facebook page at Facebook.com/UnitedMuslimsofAmericaUMA», states The Daily Beast. The latter indicated that although «much of the content on the account was apolitical, evincing positive portrayals of Islam and Muslims», other posts and memes contained «Islamophobic messages to right-wing audiences on Facebook». «United Muslims of America» is believed to have taken advantage of several news and events to convey certain information, most of the time false, to create tension in the American society, such as the Orlando's nightclub attack in June 2016 that killed 49 people and injured others. Last month, Faceboo disabled the account, after recognizing its inauthentic activity.
