'Army of fake accounts backs one of prime ministerial candidates,' Armenian fact-checkers say
Fakes back Armenia PM candidate
Armenian fact-checkers have identified an “army” of fake pages and accounts that create the impression of widespread support for a prime ministerial candidate. The candidate in question is Russian dollar billionaire Samvel Karapetyan. These fake pages actively promote the leader of the opposition party Strong Armenia and spread disinformation about members of the current government.
The fact-checking team at Media.am found that 17 Facebook pages were created on 18 February this year. These pages publish posts criticising the government and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. They also spread disinformation about him personally and about members of his family.
Numerous fake accounts then amplify videos published on these pages. The fact-checkers identified 60 such accounts.
“Most fake accounts appear on each other’s friends lists. They actively support Samvel Karapetyan and his political force in comments under posts by various media outlets,” the journalists said.
Samvel Karapetyan is under house arrest on charges of calling for the seizure of power. The Strong Armenia party has nominated him as a candidate for prime minister. However, under Armenia’s constitution, he cannot hold the post, as he is a citizen not only of Armenia but also of Russia and Cyprus.
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Details about the fake pages
Fact-checkers list a number of fake Facebook pages created on 18 February, including Week/News Armenia, Lurer Aysor, Time News, Yerevan Times, BreakNews Arm, YerevanTimes, Voice.Yerevan, Liberty News Armenia, Tarm News, Hay News, Top News Arm, YVN Pulse, Arm Urban Voice, Armenia Pulse, Live Updates Armenia, Focus on Armenia and ArmeniaNow.
“It appears that these pages are run by a single person. The only differences are the names and profile images,” they say.
The pages, created almost simultaneously between 12:30 and 12:45, posted a video at nearly the same time. The video featured photos of the prime minister’s former wife, Anna Hakobyan. It claimed that she once wore earrings worth 5,000 drams ($13), but as the prime minister’s wife wore ones worth 2,500,000 drams ($6,666).
Notably, the pages did not share the video. Instead, they uploaded it directly to Facebook at almost the same time.
Based on their analysis, the fact-checkers say this points to a coordinated campaign to discredit the authorities, the current prime minister and members of his family.
Journalists provide specific examples of the content circulated by the fake pages:
- A video showing Nikol Pashinyan’s book The Reverse Side of the Earth, with accompanying text implying “sexual deviance” on the part of the prime minister;
- A post urging people not to vote for Pashinyan, claiming he is “handing over Armenian territories to Azerbaijan”;
- A video allegedly featuring Pashinyan’s son, claiming he is “under the influence of drugs”, without any evidence;
- A post stating that by electing Nikol Pashinyan, people would effectively be voting for Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev;
- AI-generated videos discrediting Pashinyan by contrasting him with Samvel Karapetyan.
“A video created using AI was also circulated, showing Azerbaijani troops supposedly entering Yerevan,” the report says.
Dozens of users amplify content from fake pages
The fact-checking team also identified fake Facebook accounts that coordinated the spread of content from these pages.
These users also criticise the current government in their posts and express support for Samvel Karapetyan and the Strong Armenia party:
“The group includes more than 60 identified fake accounts. However, this is not a final figure. There may be many more.”
The investigation also found that most of these fake accounts were created in August–September 2023.
Analysis helped identify the real individuals behind many of the fake profiles — shown in the video.
“Their photos are mostly taken from Russian dating sites or adult (18+) platforms,” the report says.
Fakes back Armenia PM candidate
