A Facebook page linked to Cape Town-based digital marketing firm Fansgate created at least 33 Facebook groups between January and March 2020 that leveraged fears around the novel coronavirus to build their respective audiences, a DFRLab investigation has found. Fansgate’s director subsequently used a separate but related entity called AppleBerry to exploit these fears and market non-medical face masks to the members of these groups.

Fangate’s for-profit venture had an unintended consequence: in commercializing coronavirus-related fears of group members to market its product, it also created a platform for the propagation of misinformation. The Facebook groups quickly became vectors for the spread of coronavirus mis- and disinformation after the administrator seemingly abandoned them to volunteer moderators.

Parallel the spread of the coronavirus itself, related disinformation and factually misleading information has propagated in a similar manner, quickly jumping around the globe. The World Health Organization referred to the spread of this information epidemic as an infodemic — a public health crisis that has the potential to cause serious harm.

In response to the DFRLab’s investigation, Facebook took action against the companies hosting the groups. “We removed these Pages and Groups for misleading people about their purpose and attempting to evade our prohibition on the sale of medical equipment,” a Facebook company spokesperson said in a statement. “We are grateful to the Atlantic Council’s DFRLab for bringing this information to our attention.”

The DFRLab has reached out to the marketing companies’ owner for comment.

Geographic Transmission

The Facebook groups, which included Coronavirus Philippines, Coronavirus South Africa and Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates, segmented themselves geographically, and targeted individuals located in Africa, Europe, the United Kingdom, the Philippines and United States amongst others.

Screengrab from the Facebook page @AppleBerryMasks, indicating the page’s marketing blurb added on February 12, 2020. (Source: Facebook)

Considering that Fangate and AppleBerry are located in Cape Town, South Africa, their interest in the spread of the coronavirus in foreign jurisdictions seems odd. But it is clear that AppleBerryMasks’ motivation is commercial: a marketing blurb uploaded to the page on February 12, 2020, stated that AppleBerry was created to satisfy a need for more “fashionable and upbeat” face masks. This in of itself was strange, as the South African population do not generally wear face masks in public.

It also registered its AppleBerry.shop website on February 15, 2020, which sells face masks for between $15 and $25. The various Facebook groups created by Fangate and AppleBerry are listed under a separate page as AppleBerry “communities.” On March 11, AppleBerry posted veiled advertisements for its “non-medical” face mask on two of the South African coronavirus groups. While similar advertisements were not posted on the international groups, this is likely because AppleBerry has not yet secured an international distributor, according to their website.

Despite claiming that the groups were not created for fearmongering or advertising purposes, the AppleBerry page did both of these things in short succession in March 2020.

On March 10, AppleBerryMasks posted on the Coronavirus South Africa group, drawing hypothetical parallels between South Africa (which only had seven confirmed cases at that stage) and the 631 deaths in Italy at the time.

The sendoff, “What are you doing today to protect yourself and your family?” dovetails with a post it published on the group the following day, in which AppleBerry promoted an “introductory offer” on its non-medical face mask to members of this group.

Screengrab of posts made by the @AppleBerryMasks Facebook page, indicating the marketing blurb added to the page on February 12, 2020. (Source: Facebook)

For only R179–00 (USD $10), concerned members of these coronavirus awareness groups could be the proud owner of a non-surgical face mask that AppleBerry claims “may” protect against the spread of germs in crowded environments.

The AppleBerry website uses heavily disclaimed statements and hedge language that makes it clear that their face masks are not intended for any real medical intervention. Despite this, the store’s news page contains links to articles exclusively about the coronavirus, increasing the suspicion they are using coronavirus fears to market unsuitable face masks.

Cotton face masks, like the ones made by AppleBerry, are not capable of filtering out airborne viruses like the novel coronavirus, and instead act as a barrier. A 2014 study even cautioned healthcare workers, who are most likely to come into contact with viruses, against using cotton masks due to the masks’ poor filtration capacity and moisture retention. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases, one of South Africa’s national public health institutes, has also warned that citizens who are not used to wearing face masks are likely to start touching their faces more regularly, which in turn could theoretically increase the likelihood of contracting the virus.

Carrier networks

DFRLab’s investigation identified two linked networks of Facebook groups. The first network was administered by the Fangate Facebook page, which had amassed more than 91,000 followers since it was created on July 22, 2013. The second network was mainly administered by AppleBerry. In stark contrast to FanGate, AppleBerry’s Facebook page gained less than 300 page follows since its creation on February 9, 2020.

The larger of the two networks was administered by Fangate, and numbered around 100 private Facebook groups, such as unofficial pages for South African brands and football teams, as well as a large contingent of jobseeker groups. The overall impression was that Fangate was operating these groups as a means to gain access to their members for marketing purposes.

Nestled between these Fangate groups was a subset of 33 groups related to the coronavirus. Most of them were geographically segmented, with groups dedicated to the Philippines, Australia, Brazil, the US, and even individual counties within the United Kingdom. By contrast, the AppleBerry groups were thematically limited to the coronavirus. The AppleBerryMasks page created a contingent of 25 groups focused specifically on South Africa, which resembled the groups in the FanGateZA network in many respects.

On March 11, 2020, the DFRLab compared the creation dates and designated administrator of these groups chronologically: