Facebook removes Russian-based fake accounts targeting UK politics

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Facebook said it has removed a small network of fake accounts and pages originating in Russia which targeted political debate in the UK and other countries&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Using elaborate fake online profiles spanning multiple sites&comma; the network’s members posed as a news organisation based in Romania called Peacedata&comma; recruiting freelance journalists to write stories for left-leaning audiences&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads1--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Facebook said its investigation found links to the Russian Internet Research Agency &lpar;IRA&rpar;&comma; which was previously linked to election interference on Facebook during the 2016 US presidential election&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Thirteen Facebook accounts and two pages were removed for violating the site’s policy against foreign interference – &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;co-ordinated inauthentic behaviour on behalf of a foreign entity”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Facebook said the network had achieved little reach on the platform when it was taken down&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This network was in the early stages of building its audience&comma; primarily on the left of the political spectrum&comma; and saw nearly no engagement on Facebook before we removed it&comma;” the social media giant said in its August Co-ordinated Inauthentic Behaviour Report&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-161354" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;09&sol;C2A92533-A56A-412B-BAA5-F13A1E065B37&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"572" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The people behind this network posted about global news and current events relevant to the countries and left-leaning communities they targeted&comma; including social and racial justice in the US and UK&comma; Nato and EU politics&semi; alleged Western war crimes and corruption&semi; environmental issues&semi; the founder of Wikileaks&semi; tensions between Israel and Palestine&semi; the coronavirus pandemic&semi; criticism of fracking&semi; French influence in Africa&semi; the Biden-Harris campaign&semi; QAnon&semi; President Trump and his policies&semi; and the US military policies in Africa&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to Facebook’s report&comma; the network had around 14&comma;000 accounts following one or more of its pages&comma; and the English language page had &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;a little over 200 followers”&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;It said around &dollar;480 &lpar;€405&rpar; had been spent on Facebook advertising&comma; paid for predominantly in US dollars&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The network had also attempted to gain political advertising authorisation to run such adverts in the United States&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Alongside Facebook&comma; Twitter said it had suspended five accounts for &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;platform manipulation”&comma; which it said it could &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;reliably attribute to Russian state actors”&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Regardless of the low-level impact in this case&comma; governments around the world must stop these practices&comma;” Twitter said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads2--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;They’re anti-democratic&period; Attempts to manipulate our service to undermine democracy – by both foreign and domestic actors – will be met with strict enforcement of our policies&period;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Facebook’s latest Co-ordinated Inauthentic Behaviour Report also revealed a number of accounts&comma; pages and Instagram profiles linked to a US-based strategic communications firm which was carrying out inauthentic behaviour in Venezuela&comma; Mexico and Bolivia&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A further network of more than 450 Facebook accounts&comma; as well as pages&comma; groups and Instagram accounts operated from Pakistan has also been removed&comma; which had focused on relations between Pakistan and India&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68cd1f4a22f94">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; false &rpar; &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&sol;&sol; Use Aditude scripts&period;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings &equals; window&period;tudeMappings &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings&period;push&lpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;divId&colon; 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68cd1f4a22f94'&comma;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;format&colon; 'belowpost'&comma;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub; &rpar;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub;&NewLine;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; document&period;readyState &equals;&equals;&equals; 'loading' &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;document&period;addEventListener&lpar; 'DOMContentLoaded'&comma; window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &rpar;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub; else &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback&lpar;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;script>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>


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