The page had nearly 200,000 followers by October 2017, according to VVA, but was not shut down when the organization first flagged it to a Facebook representative on August 23, 2017. (Facebook said later that it had initially determined that the imposter page had not violated its terms of use.) VVA’s assistant director for policy, Kristofer Goldsmith, told a Facebook representative in late August that the page was “building an audience by sharing incendiary fake news” and propaganda, according to emails obtained by The Atlantic. On August 31, the representative asked Goldsmith whether he had reported the page, and said it was being reviewed by Facebook’s internal team. When the page had still not been shut down by September 26, Goldsmith reached out again, this time to flag a video posted by the page with the caption: “Do you think the criminals must suffer?” The Facebook representative did not respond.

The page was ultimately taken offline for copyright infringement. But two more like it—“Nam Vets” and “Vietnam-Veterans.org,” both of which are registered to the same Netfinity JSC of Bulgaria—were subsequently discovered. “Vietnam-Veterans.org” is registered specifically to an individual named Nikola Mitov, also through Netfinity JSC of Bulgaria. Mitov did not respond to an request for comment sent to an email listed under his name. Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.

Combined, “Nam Vets” and “Vietnam-Veterans.org” have fewer than 4,000 followers. But they have used the same tactics to gain traction and engagement as the previous imposter page did. “Vietnam-Veterans.org” used a logo similar to VVA’s as its profile photo, and “Nam Vets,” at its inception in 2015, co-opted the logo entirely. Both pages have promoted divisive political content including videos of protesters stomping on American flags and photos of veterans’ memorials being defaced. The pages are riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, mirroring the pages and ads purchased by Russian actors during the election that impersonated Americans and spread misinformation. “Does all of your friends know what day is today?” reads one link posted by “Vietnam-Veterans.org.” “Very useful inormation (sic) for each Veteran!” reads another posted by “Nam Vets.”

In the case of the now-defunct “Heart of Texas” Facebook page, the language was the biggest clue that it was a project spearheaded by foreign actors and not dissatisfied Texans seeking to secede. The memes posted in the group contained typos, grammatical errors, and a general unfamiliarity with basic English phrases. Still, followers engaged with the content and rarely, if ever, raised questions about the grammar. Moreover, some of the Facebook pages exposed as foreign influence operations were not limited to memes and “news” stories—they actually transformed into an organizing force, promoting rallies and protests that average Americans attended during the lead-up to the 2016 election.