Overseas accounts flooding Alberta separatism groups with divisive content

At least 14 overseas accounts have been posting politically divisive content about Alberta separatism in major Facebook groups, with some users profiting directly from the engagement.

CBC's investigation identified accounts run from Indonesia, Pakistan, India, the U.S., and Sri Lanka that are top contributors to Alberta independence pages with over 100,000 members combined. The posts have generated tens of thousands of reactions and comments over the past two months.

One account, posing as "Nieta Aqila," claimed to be an Albertan supporting separation and canvassing for petition signatures. In reality, the account owner is a noodle merchant and content creator from Indonesia. Some of the posts were lifted directly from real Albertans' content without permission.

When contacted by CBC, one Albertan whose content was stolen said they felt "absolutely violated."

Nieta Aqila posted screenshots showing income from Meta's creator monetization program, which rewards engagement. Several other overseas accounts also displayed earnings from the platform.

Experts say Facebook's monetization incentives reward engagement over accuracy, allowing creators thousands of miles away to exploit Canadian outrage as a profitable niche. "People sitting thousands of miles away working out that Canadian outrage is a profitable niche," said Matt Navarra, a social media consultant whose clients include Meta and Google. "They may not actually care about Canadian politics at all."

The discovery mirrors a similar pattern on YouTube, where channels promoting U.S. annexation of Alberta were created by people in the Netherlands to generate platform income.