Facebook on Thursday removed hundreds of pages of “fake” news content and accounts, in two separate operations originating in Russia, that the social media group said was “engaging in co-ordinated inauthentic behaviour”.
The 364 Facebook pages and accounts of one formed part of a network that originated in Russia and operated in the Baltics, central Asia, the Caucasus, and central and eastern European countries, said a post on Facebook by Nathaniel Gleicher, head of cyber security policy at the social media group.
Mr Gleicher said the page administrators and account holders represented themselves as independent news pages or general interest pages on topics such as weather, travel, sports or economics in countries that included Russia, Romania and Uzbekistan.
Separately, based on a tip from US law enforcement, Facebook removed 107 Facebook pages, groups and accounts, and 41 Instagram accounts, which were part of a network originating in Russia and operating in Ukraine. Those behind these accounts primarily represented themselves as Ukrainian, and operated fake accounts sharing local news, he said.
