Who is Maria Alberto, and her ghost army of digital sockpuppets?

In Angola, a digital ghost army is busy at work. Sockpuppet accounts and fake influencers are using social media to lavish praise on president João Lourenço and the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party, while taking aim at critics and opposition voices. These phantom profiles use coordinated influence behaviours to shape public perception, offering the illusion of grassroots support in a country where political control increasingly relies on the manipulation of online sentiment.

One such persona is ‘Maria Alberto’, who describes herself as a young Angolan digital influencer with a keen interest in regional politics. Her polished Facebook comments routinely echo the government’s narrative. ‘Angola’s commitment to promoting direct negotiations is essential to achieving lasting peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo,’ she wrote on 18 March 2025, beneath an official post by the presidency. Her words stand out not only for their pro-government slant but also for their timing, aimed at countering a tide of public criticism.

Different sources revealed that the use of synthetic identities has become a core tactic in the Angolan government’s digital playbook, blurring the line between citizen voice and state propaganda. In the case of the DRC and Rwanda conflict, where president Lourenço sought to position himself as a regional peacemaker, the online campaign helped create a controlled narrative — one that favoured diplomacy, and more importantly, loyalty to his leadership.

On 18 March 2025, the presidency’s Facebook page announced that, due to ‘circumstances beyond our control’, the meeting scheduled for that day in Luanda between the DRC Government and the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group was cancelled.

‘The Government of the Republic of Angola, acting as mediator, remains committed to rescheduling the meeting as soon as possible. It reaffirms its position that dialogue is the only sustainable path to achieving lasting peace in eastern DRC,’ read the announcement.

The cancellation came after the internationally sanctioned M23 abandoned the negotiations, citing travel restrictions and political issues. The political and military instability in the region has ripple effects across neighbouring countries, including Angola. While the international community praised Lourenço’s mediation efforts as a constructive step, many Angolans saw it differently. At home, the initiative was viewed as a calculated move to boost the president’s image, as the Facebook comments show, because Angola does not seem to have enough diplomatic influence to solve that crisis.

The Angolan presidency’s post updating the public on the failed peace talks was met with mixed reactions. Genuine Facebook users were quick to criticise the government for its inability to bring the conflicting parties to the table, with some accusing the presidency of last-minute disorganisation.

But almost as soon as the post went live, a wave of familiar praise began flooding in — from accounts that bore all the hallmarks of sockpuppet accounts. Among them was Alberto, who wrote: ‘Angola’s commitment to promoting direct negotiations is essential to achieving lasting peace in DRC.’ Within minutes, at least three similar accounts echoed the sentiment, hailing Angola’s mediating role as ‘unquestionable’ and ‘essential for regional stability’.

Yet the disconnect was glaring. ‘You don’t even believe what you say,’ one user commented in response to Alberto.

Another seemingly real user, Mascala Pedro Panzo, responded to Alberto’s comment: ‘Did the meeting end well? It’s a page from the psychological action office.’

The ‘psychological action office’ is an informal reference to the Office of Strategic Studies and Analyses (GEAE), a shadowy unit under Angola’s Presidential Military House. Formed by merging the Office of Psychological Action and Information (GAP) and the Office of Strategic Studies (GEE), GEAE is known for bypassing traditional intelligence structures and reporting directly to the presidency.

Now led by former MPLA spokesperson Norberto Garcia, GEAE has been accused by opposition parties of manipulating civil society and opposition figures with promises of jobs, housing, and political positions. Though its mandate remains vague, GEAE is widely viewed as a propaganda tool to shape public opinion and promote Lourenço’s image. Making this allegation on social media can be seen as an attempt to reveal that Alberto’s account is part of a larger strategy of mass influence and manipulation.

Sockpuppets and humans

As of December 2024, Facebook remains Angola’s most popular social media platform, with around 5.8 million users — roughly 15% of the 37 million inhabitants — and 77% of online users actively using it, according to StatCounter.

The Disinformation Strategic Analysis, Response, and Mitigation (DISARM) framework defines sockpuppet accounts as fake profiles operated by individuals or groups to promote influence operations or attack critics. Unlike bots, which are automated, these accounts are manually operated and often appear to be real people. Following closer analysis, the Alberto account and several other accounts in this network can be classified as sock puppets, as there is no clear evidence of automation. Instead, they appear to be inauthentic accounts created primarily to push pro-MPLA messaging.

The Alberto account, on the surface, appears like the account of a typical young Angolan woman — socially active and politically aware. But a deeper look suggests otherwise. Alberto’s activity centres almost entirely around posts on the official Facebook page of the presidency, consistently praising president Lourenço and the ruling MPLA party with polished, repetitive slogans. Her page, created on 29 April 2022, has 408 followers and contains no personal content — only pro-government posts and commentary.

The profile picture used on Alberto’s profile does not belong to an Angolan citizen; it is a photo of American model Camila Elle. Alberto’s behaviour and presentation suggest that the account is not a genuine citizen voice.

Friends of Alberto

Alberto is not alone. Dozens of similar accounts — suspiciously uniform in tone and timing — flood the comment sections of the Angolan presidency’s official Facebook page with glowing praise for Lourenço and the ruling MPLA. These profiles mirror Alberto’s activity, repeating the same carefully worded pro-government slogans with uncanny consistency. Consistently for at least three years, these accounts have published posts stating and emphasising that Lourenço leads diplomacy with wisdom and serenity, promoting an Angola open to the world, strong on the African principles of solidarity, brotherhood, and mutual respect between states. The accounts regularly comment on the presidency’s Facebook page as well, with remarks such as ‘The initiative to establish a factory for treated mosquito nets in Angola demonstrates the government’s commitment to fighting disease and promoting the well-being of the population’. ‘Albemaro’, an account similar to Alberto, made this comment on 21 April 2025.

The same description of Alberto’s activity on Facebook can be applied not only to Albemaro but to dozens of other profiles that comment daily on the official Facebook page of the Angolan presidency. The investigation has found four Facebook pages and six profiles. Combined, the profiles have more than 3,000 friends, while the pages attract around 8,000 followers. These accounts frequently comment on each other’s posts and use copy-paste tactics to amplify pro-government content, boosting its reach. According to the DISARM framework, this ‘copypasta’ technique involves posting identical text across multiple accounts and platforms to simulate widespread support.

The accounts — Albemaro, António Calebe, Cosme Fortuna, Flavia Matondo, Kira Fernandes, Lucas Hebreus, Maria Alberto, Maria Jumbo, Manuela Teca, Milton António, and Sócrates Kilunji — form a coordinated network of sockpuppets promoting Lourenço and the ruling party.

Though these accounts coordinate in some form on their pages or profiles, they do not receive much engagement.

Sample accounts

Albemaro
With a profile photo of a fashionable young man, Albemaro projects the image of a politically engaged youth. However, a reverse image search shows that the photo is from a stock site, with the watermark still visible. His bio claims he is passionate about technology, yet his activity consists solely of generic pro-government posts.
• Created: 02 December 2024
• Followers: 35

Milton António
Although labelled as a ‘digital creator, António’s account has no personal content beyond a profile photo. He exclusively shares posts from the government and presidency, with minimal engagement.
• Created: 12 October 2022
• Friends: 140

António Calebe
Another sparse profile, with only one initial image, sourced from Duke University’s student career site. The account has not shown any meaningful activity since 2023.
• Created: 2022
• Friends: 223

Flavia Matondo
Matondo’s posts mirror those of Alberto, António, and Albemaro. Occasionally, she targets opposition leaders with derogatory content.
• First post: 06 February 2023
• Friends: 616

Kira Fernandes
One of the most active accounts in the network, Fernandes shares content identical to that of Matondo and Alberto, sometimes posting up to 12 times a day.
• Followers: 6,400
• Friends with Flavia

The overlap in the accounts’ content, imagery, and connections points to a coordinated artificial effort to manufacture support for the ruling party, rather than an authentic political engagement.

The fake profiles identified in the investigation are also closely linked to the Press Centre of the Presidency of the Republic of Angola (CIPRA). They regularly share CIPRA content promoting government activities and maintain Facebook connections with one another. These accounts also have ties to MPLA activists, particularly from the party’s youth wing, JMPLA, and technical staff within CIPRA.

This suggests a coordinated disinformation network rooted in the presidency, using formal bodies such as CIPRA and GEAE. A battalion of sockpuppet accounts appears to be managed by young MPLA activists and communication specialists embedded in the presidency, with the capacity to directly shape online conversations and public perception.

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This Article was written by Miguel Gomes, freelance journalist working with Pravda Association, and edited by senior editor Eva Vajda.