Facebook has blocked Chinese hackers from attacking members of the Uyghur minority abroad. The group of hackers in China abused the social platform to spy on Uyghurs elsewhere.
It involved hundreds of Uyghur activists, dissidents and journalists in the United States, Australia, Canada and other countries. But others would also have suffered. Chinese hackers infected computers and smartphones to monitor their targets remotely and gather information.
According to Facebook, hackers used fake Facebook accounts. They posed as journalists, students, human rights activists, or Uyghur community members to build trust with their targets. They tricked them into clicking malicious links.
Facebook says it cannot determine whether the Beijing government is behind the attacks. The communist regime has consistently denied any involvement in cyber espionage.
The Uyghurs are a predominantly Muslim group from the Xinjiang region that is being persecuted in China. The House of Representatives in the Netherlands, among others, believes that there is a genocide, which has led to anger in Beijing.