Facebook removes 75 accounts over ‘inauthentic behaviour’
The fake accounts had links to Russia with ads paid for in euros, roubles and dollars
Brussels— Facebook has taken down two campaigns run by fake accounts with links to Russia as it continues to grapple with misinformation on its platform. Facebook has removed 289 pages and 75 accounts it says were engaged in inauthentic behaviour. In a blog post on Thursday by Nathaniel Gleicher, head of cyber-security policy, Facebook said about 790,000 accounts follow one or more of the pages, and $135,000 was spent for ads on Facebook paid for in euros, roubles, and dollars. The pages were also linked to employees of Sputnik, a Russian-backed news agency, Facebook said. Sputnik did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication. Facebook has been battling foreign influence on its site. Late last year, it said it took down some accounts ahead of the US midterm elections that federal authorities told them might possibly be from the Russian Internet Research Agency — the same group that tried to influence the 2016 election. The pages and accounts linked to Sputnik were...
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