Facebook removes 3 networks using fake accounts for misinformation
One of the accounts was connected to hackers that sent threatening emails to Americans last week.
Facebook has removed 3 small networks for using fake accounts to spread misinformation about the presidential election.
The first network had two pages and 22 Instagram accounts, which were removed for foreign interference, per Ad Week. The second network consisted of 12 accounts, six pages and 11 Instagram accounts — all created for government interference.
Two of the networks targeted voters in the United States.
One of the accounts was based in Iran and connected to hackers that sent threatening emails to Americans last week.
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theGRIO previously reported, FBI Director Christopher Wray and National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe announced at a news conference that Russia and Iran obtained U.S. voter information in effort to influence the election. Iranian intelligence used the hacked information to send threatening emails to Democratic voters, falsely purporting to be from the far-right group Proud Boys.
The emails warned “we will come after you” if the recipients didn’t vote for Trump, per The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Facebook took action against the three networks as part of its “coordinated inauthentic behavior” policy, which removes fake accounts that engage in disinformation campaigns.
The social media platform has reportedly removed more than 100 networks in the past three years, Washington Post reports.
“We know these actors are going to keep trying, but I think we are more prepared than we have ever been,” the company’s head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said on a call with reporters Tuesday.
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“We’ve seen consistently that as it gets harder for these actors to keep their networks undetected for long periods of time, they are trying to play on our collective expectation of widespread interference to create the perception that they’re more impactful than they in fact are,” Gleicher said.
With Election Day fast approaching, Facebook is preparing for a surge in disinformation from both foreign and domestic agitators.
“We should all be conscious of the risk that malicious actors could use fictitious claims to target or suggest that election infrastructure has been compromised or election outcomes would be inaccurate in an effort to suppress voter turnout or erode trust in polling results, particularly in battleground states,” said Gleicher.
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