by AK Horsfall » January 17th, 2019, 4:31 pm
Facebook announced Thursday that it has removed more than 500 pages , groups and accounts originating in Russia for engaging in what the social network called “ coordinated inauthentic behaviour . ”
The California - based social media giant said they were part of two separate but similar Russian - based influence operations, one that was active in a variety of former Soviet republics and another focused specifically on Ukraine .
“ We didn ’ t find any links between these operations , but they used similar tactics by creating networks of accounts to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing, ” Nathaniel Gleicher , the head of Facebook ’ s cybersecurity policy , said in a post.
He said 364 pages and accounts were removed that posed as independent news sites or general interest sites but were found to be linked to employees of Sputnik , a Moscow- based news agency .
Those operated in the Baltics , Central Asia , the Caucasus and Central and Eastern European countries , Facebook said .
“ Some of the pages frequently posted about topics like anti - NATO sentiment, protest movements, and anti - corruption, ” Gleicher said .
Sputnik confirmed that its Facebook pages and accounts were removed , denouncing the action as “ undoubtedly a purely political decision and in fact censorship . ”
Another 107 pages , groups and accounts were removed from Facebook and 41 from Facebook -owned Instagram that were identified as part of a Russia - based network targeting Ukraine.
“ We identified some technical overlap with Russia - based activity we saw prior to the US midterm elections , including behaviour that shared characteristics with previous Internet Research Agency (IRA ) activity , ” Facebook said .
In those cases, Facebook acted on a tip from US law enforcement, the post said .
US intelligence says the IRA is a troll farm linked to Russian intelligence.
Facebook has come under intense pressure from a wave of scandals , mainly over the sharing of its users ’ data without their consent but also over the rampant use of its platform for Russian “fake news” influence campaigns during the 2016 US presidential elections .
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Facebook announced Thursday that it has removed more than 500 pages , groups and accounts originating in Russia for engaging in what the social network called “ coordinated inauthentic behaviour . ”
The California - based social media giant said they were part of two separate but similar Russian - based influence operations, one that was active in a variety of former Soviet republics and another focused specifically on Ukraine .
“ We didn ’ t find any links between these operations , but they used similar tactics by creating networks of accounts to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing, ” Nathaniel Gleicher , the head of Facebook ’ s cybersecurity policy , said in a post.
He said 364 pages and accounts were removed that posed as independent news sites or general interest sites but were found to be linked to employees of Sputnik , a Moscow- based news agency .
Those operated in the Baltics , Central Asia , the Caucasus and Central and Eastern European countries , Facebook said .
“ Some of the pages frequently posted about topics like anti - NATO sentiment, protest movements, and anti - corruption, ” Gleicher said .
Sputnik confirmed that its Facebook pages and accounts were removed , denouncing the action as “ undoubtedly a purely political decision and in fact censorship . ”
Another 107 pages , groups and accounts were removed from Facebook and 41 from Facebook -owned Instagram that were identified as part of a Russia - based network targeting Ukraine.
“ We identified some technical overlap with Russia - based activity we saw prior to the US midterm elections , including behaviour that shared characteristics with previous Internet Research Agency (IRA ) activity , ” Facebook said .
In those cases, Facebook acted on a tip from US law enforcement, the post said .
US intelligence says the IRA is a troll farm linked to Russian intelligence.
Facebook has come under intense pressure from a wave of scandals , mainly over the sharing of its users ’ data without their consent but also over the rampant use of its platform for Russian “fake news” influence campaigns during the 2016 US presidential elections .
http://www.punchng.com