INVESTIGATION
Networks of sham “news” pages on social media are being used to spread vast amounts of far-right pro-Pauline Hanson propaganda — as Hanson bans actual media outlets from her events.
Facebook pages with titles including “Breaking News: Australia”, “Australia News” and “Australia News Zone” are flooding social media with the material, investigations show.
The fake “news” pages each have thousands of “members”, and carry no political disclosures.
On Monday Hanson banned actual media outlets The Age, The Guardian and the ABC from her Melbourne press conference to announce the party’s Victorian candidates.
That followed the far-right party ejecting the ABC — the nation’s most trust media source — from media events in May and June.
Hanson and One Nation refused to respond when asked about the fake “news” pages by The Klaxon, including whether the pages were being run by One Nation.
The pages are seperate to a “news site” reported by The Age and the ABC last month — “One News Australia”, which claims to be independent, but whose Facebook page was formerly the “One Nation Supporters Network”.
One of the pages identified by The Klaxon, “Breaking News: Australia”, invites the public to “stay informed with the latest updates, breaking news, and heartwarming stories from across Australia”.
“Join us in celebrating the positivity and resilience of our great nation every day!” it states.
The “Breaking News: Australia” Facebook page, and some of the Hanson posts. Source: Facebook. Graphic: The Klaxon
In fact, it spreads vast amounts of pro-Hanson and pro-One Nation material, interspersed with and divisive and hateful messaging, particularly targeting Muslims.
One post features an AI-generated image of Hanson in front of the Australian flag, along with the words “The fighter we needed for the Australia we love”.
Another pictures her with with the words: “She’s the future. She’s got the softer approach”.
There were more than 150 posts to the page just yesterday, with 2,762 posts “in the last month”.
The fake “news” page has “7.4k members”, up from “6.7k members” just two weeks ago.
The page lists a single “admin” — who is stated as “Salim Affrassi”.
The “location” of “Salim Affrassi” — whose image appears to be AI-generated — is stated as “Amsterdam Netherlands”.
No other information is provided.
“Salim Affassi” the “admin” of “Breaking News: Australia”, which has 7,400 members. Source: Facebook
The extremely weak “transparency” measures of Facebook, owned by Meta, mean it is not possible to establish who is behind the pages.
“Meta’s extremely weak ‘transparency’ measures mean it is not possible to establish who is behind the pages”
Another page, called “Australia News” – whose homepage states “News Australia” – has “31.9k members” and has had 944 posts in the last month.
The “Australia News” Facebook page and pro-Hanson posts. Source: Facebook. Graphic: The Klaxon
One post features images of Hanson and Albanese and states: “Fire the liars: Is high-flying Pauline Hanson about to get her wish?”
Across all the pro-Hanson sham “news” sites examined by The Klaxon, there was a trend toward framing the content as a question, in an apparent bid to avoid triggering Facebook’s moderation tools.
The large amounts of racist and bigoted posts, interspersed with the pro-Hanson and One Nation propaganda on the pages, were also often presented as “questions”.
A post on page “Australia News”. Source: Facebook
Far-right lobby group “Advance” used a network of fake “news” Facebook pages in its successful campaign to kill off the Indigenous Voice to parliament.
A third pro-Hanson fake “news” page identified by The Klaxon, Australia News Zone, has “14,821 total members” — up 393 in the past week. It was “created 38 weeks ago”.
“Australia News Zone” with “14.2k members” hosts vasts amount of pro-Hanson material. Source: Facebook
After over 30 years at the fringes of politics, support for Hanson and One Nation has exploded since late last year.
That surge has corresponded with masses of pro-Hanson and pro-One Nation propaganda flooding social media.
Voting intentions, plotting major polls. Source: Wikipedia
Hanson and One Nation did not respond when asked a series of questions about the fake “news pages”, including whether they were being operated by One Nation, whether they were being funded by One Nation, or whether they were being operated or funded by any “associated entity” of One Nation.
Refusing to answer: Questions to Hanson and One Nation
At the same time this afternoon, the same pro-One Nation post was posted to all three of the fake “news” sites, citing Monday’s One Nation event.
It was posted to each of “Breaking News: Australia”, “Australia News” and “Australia News Zone”, at about 2pm.
Pro-Hanson material posted to “Breaking News: Australia”, “Australia News” and “Australia News Zone” this afternoon. Source: Facebook
The post is headed: “TURN ON THE ABC…AND YOU WON’T SEE THIS,” PAULINE HANSON TELLS CROWD.
“Pauline Hanson delivered a fiery speech at Melbourne’s Tower Hotel, claiming Australians are not being shown the full picture by mainstream media,” it states.
“Speaking out about crime, vandalism, youth gangs and community safety, she urged supporters to seek information from alternative news sources instead.
“Hanson ‘urged supporters’ to ‘seek information from alternative news sources’, the post states”
The post continues:
“Outside the venue, a heavy police presence managed protestors as tensions flared.
“Meanwhile, One Nation chief of staff James Ashby claimed Hanson’s security detail now exceeds that of the Prime Minister, adding another layer to an already heated political debate”.
Like vast numbers of other posts in the fake “news” networks, the post then posits a “question”.
“What do you think??” it states at the end.
The “author” of the post is stated as “Eleanor Ika Adriyan”, whose Facebook page states they are a “konten kreator”.
The page of the “author” of the post, “Eleanor Ika Adriyan”. Source: Facebook
The “Eleanor Ika Adriyan” account is listed as as an “all-star contributor” on the “Australia News” page and a “top contributor” on the “Australia News Zone” page.
The “photos” section of “Eleanor Ika Adriyan’s” Facebook page shows the vast amounts of pro-Hanson and pro-One Nation material the account is posting.
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Anthony Klan
Editor, The Klaxon
