Three Dutch nationals are behind a wave of propaganda videos promoting secession in the Canadian province of Alberta, investigators in Canada have found. The videos, which manipulate real news stories, make it appear as if support for joining the US is widespread and imminent in the province.

The videos have been viewed over 40 million times and were published through 20 separate YouTube channels, according to a report by the Media Ecosystem Observatory (MEO), a joint project between the University of Toronto and McGill University in Montreal.

The researchers said the channels are part of a coordinated effort to profit anonymously from political and social tensions in the country. The content uses and exaggerates real issues, using “frequent and obvious lies,” the report said.

“Slopaganda”

The CBC News investigation found that actors hired to present the videos (many of whom are not Canadians) did so unknowingly, believing they were auditioning for other roles and never gave permission for the footage to be used.

One of the three Dutch nationals linked to the videos admitted to broadcaster BNR he was involved, the other two have denied involvement. They are linked to Faceless Education Community, an online course run by Dutch entrepreneur Niels van der Linde, which teaches people how to make money from anonymous YouTube channels.

Fabricated poll results, skewed statistics and made up political comments were used in the videos, which the report dubbed “slopaganda.” Alberta is an oil-rich province of Canada where tensions over national taxes has created some support for secession from the country.

YouTube said it had shut down 30 channels for breaching its community guidelines after reviewing the findings. The Stay Free Alberta campaign said this week it had collected more than 300,000 signatures for a referendum on independence, above the 178,000 threshold needed to trigger one. The province’s premier is now verifying the signatures.