Facebook bans fake Russian accounts targeting US voters
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Facebook has banned dozens of accounts linked to a Russian agency that is accused of being behind a mass misinformation campaign. Many of the accounts claimed to be based in Florida and representing activist groups.
Facebook has announced new security measures aimed at preventing its platform from being used to interfere in elections, including the suspension of a network of Russia-based accounts containing "divisive" political messages aimed at US voters.
The social media giant faced heavy criticism over failing to prevent fake accounts based in Russia from spreading misinformation during the 2016 US presidential election campaign.
The company said Monday that the banned networks "showed links" to Russia's Internet Research Agency, which operated a "troll farm" Washington says was instrumental in interfering with the 2016 vote.
Read more: Hackers target democratic institutions in Europe, says Microsoft
Facebook has admitted that the Internet Research Agency was able to exploit the platform to reach 126 million Americans during the election.
In 2018, the US Department Justice indicted the Internet Research Agency for "creating false personas" to operate social media pages "designed to attract US audiences," addressing divisive US political and social issues and "falsely claiming to be controlled by US activists."
A report released Monday by the social media analytics firm Graphika said the takedown involved 50 accounts on the picture sharing platform Instagram, half of which claimed to be based in swing states, especially Florida.
Graphika said the accounts were all linked to the same operation and claimed to represent activist groups from both sides of the political spectrum with a high potential for polarization.
These included "black activist groups, advocates speaking out against police violence, police supporters, LGBT+ groups, Christian conservatives, Muslims, environmentalists, gun-rights activists, southern Confederates and supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders and President Donald Trump."
Read more: Russian propaganda: 'A multitude of lies and absurd news'
"The operators went to great lengths to hide their origins," said the Graphika report, adding that most of the posts were memes without text.
The campaign also appears to have been created recently, Graphika said, with most of the Instagram accounts in the operation having a low number of followers and a combined total of 75,000 posts.
Amid warnings from US officials of election interference in 2020, other steps announced by Facebook on Monday include labeling posts from state-controlled media, and adding hacking protection and monitoring services for accounts of elected officials and candidates.
Please also see these additional sources
Russian propaganda: 'A multitude of lies and absurd news'
Kremlin media polarize and undermine democratic processes in Europe using a new form of expansive digital authoritarianism that threatens the achievements of liberal democracies, says DW's Ingo Mannteufel. (16.05.2019)
Hackers target democratic institutions in Europe, says Microsoft
Microsoft has accused Russian hacking group Fancy Bear of launching a series of recent attacks against think tanks in Europe. Cybersecurity is a major concern ahead of European parliamentary elections in May. (20.02.2019)
Facebook exempts politicians' posts from fact-checking
The social network has said it won't be an arbiter of appropriate political speech following public scrutiny over freedom of expression versus dubious content. The stance comes ahead of the 2020 presidential elections. (25.09.2019)
Facebook deletes hundreds of Russian troll pages
The US technology giant has shut down more than 360 pages and accounts, with some tied to an infamous troll farm. Under immense pressure, Facebook has started to target online influence operations and hate speech. (17.01.2019)
Who are the Russian trolls indicted by the US?
Journalist and whistleblower Lyudmila Savchuk once worked at Russia's St. Petersburg-based troll factory, hoping to expose it. She spoke to DW about the recent indictment of Russians on charges of election interference.
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For those who are still in denial about the imminent threat posed to our nation by hostile Russian influence over our American elections this should be a wake up call. We are under attack by a foreign enemy who desires to misinform you and lead us all into danger. For all of those who are still spreading such harmful foreign propaganda on American social media, the crap we all see which is specifically designed to misinform and divide American voters, this should be a finall warning. They are coming after you. You will be identified and you will be condemned for your blatantly anti-American activities. If it looks fishy and it sounds fishy and it smells fishy then it is probably rank anti-American foreign propaganda...
And, they did it without firing a shot just like Khrushchev said they would...
Um.. Where you did you learn your history?
The Soviet Union hasn't existed for decades. IF you think Khruschev was proven right, you need serious remedial help.
Khrushchev said that Russia would one day conquer the US without ever firing a shot and Vlad Putin, by getting Trump elected President, has fulfilled Krushchev's potent prophecy.
I wonder how many fake Russian accounts there are here on Newstalkers? Quite a few I bet.
A Legion of Dishonor, if you ask me. No Shame! At Long Last...No Shame.
Irony that you are spreading fake information in a seed where you claim to be against fake information. Talk about a legion of dishonor.
First, Khrushchev never said that.
Second, the fake quote was originally attributed to him as a prediction that COMMUNISM would succeed and capitalism would fail. How do you not get that?
So while ranting against disinformation, you've provided a fake quote and then you've deliberately taken the quote out of context to deceive gullible liberals.
That's quite a twofer.
Why don't you show me where I actually quoted anyone? Still, the sentiment was correct. So, why don't you give us the exact quote then? That would be helpful...
BTW, the topic is the rampant abuse of American Social Media by bad foreign actors illegally influencing American elections and the steps reputable platforms are taking to stop harmful anti-American foreign propaganda from influencing the 2020 election.
Do you have anything "of value" to contribute on that regard today?
You falsely claimed "Khrushchev said that Russia would one day conquer the US without ever firing a shot"
he sentiment was correct.
So in your world, the USA is a communist appendage of the USSR? Or do you lack basic comprehension skills?
While that may be what you wish for (why else would anyone not only use a fake quote but pervert it's meaning to glorify a brutal Communist dictator as a prophet?), the US is still a capitalist Republic. Sorry for your loss.
o, why don't you give us the exact quote then
You want an exact quote of an imaginary statement? Is that right?
king to stop harmful anti-American foreign propaganda
As opposed to anti-American domestic propaganda like you peddle? Or maybe you are one of the last Russian Communists, so this wouldn't apply. I can't tell.
At least Facebook is trying to stop some of the harmful anti-American propaganda and fake news from being spread wholesale to Americans on our internet. Period. That is good enough for me. Do you really wish they would not even try? Are you in favor of any other malicious foreign governments illegally influencing or American election? What about China? What about Israel?
Or, were you just trying to be a bother to me? Huh?
Maybe they could instruct Faux 'news' how to post the truth. That would be a good start.
Once you've been convinced that you can only get your news from back ally partisans, their job is done, the back ally partisans own you and can tell you whatever they want and they know you'll gobble it up like obedient little lap dogs. If you think that it's everyone else who have gone crazy and you're the only sane one, the only one who can really see what's going on, it usually turns out to be exactly the opposite.
Donald Trump is a serial liar, but most of his supporters don't see that as a flaw, they see it as a feature. Just because the supposed "MSM" presents negative stories about the known liar in chief, that does not make them "fake news".
The fact is Russia wanted Trump to win. Donald Trump openly admitted he didn't think sanctions on Russia would be necessary if he were President. He openly asked Russia to look for Hillary's deleted emails with the obvious attempt to help his campaign and hurt his opponents and Russia immediately complied regardless of whether you think Trump was serious or not in the public ask. Russia spent $1.25 million a month on fake ads and a social media blitz designed to look domestic instead of foreign. Russia illegally hacked private US citizens and illegally released the emails in an effort to embarrass and hurt Trumps political opponents the same day an embarrassing tape of Trump was released by his opponents. Putin himself openly admitted he wanted Trump as President and directed his government to surreptitiously help Trump get elected.
“President Putin, did you want President Trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?” - reporter Jeff Mason
“Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.–Russia relationship back to normal.” - Vladimir Putin
Putin is nothing but an authoritarian dictator who has had dozens of opponents, dissenters, journalists and defectors assassinated, jailed or disappeared, forcibly took over Russian media, stuffed ballot boxes and used violent tactics and fear to take power and effectively made himself President for life by removing any sort of term limits. And now we've got our own President who Putin helped install many of whose supporters seem to be fine with Russian tactics because the ends justify the means in their warped fascist minds. They're willing to make a deal with the devil if it guarantees the neighbors and fellow American citizens they hate and despise will suffer. Very sad.
History will be very unkind to those ignominious American fools who advanced Putin's lousy Anti-American agenda on American social media. And, they sadly are legions. Just look around you! Harmful anti-American propaganda is still being spread all over American social media. It was bad in 2016. it is still bad today. It should not be tolerated going forward. Period. Full Stop! Yet, as you see, such behavior has its defenders. Shameless Defenders...
I really doubt that liberals will hold Obama to task for his lead from behind policies. He knew well in advance of Russian meddling and did nothing.
Yeah, we'll fix President Obama, we won't vote for him in 2020.
The subject is Russian influence on our elections. In case you didn't know, Obama's bitch ass was President at the time. I'm sure even you can manage to look that up on the internet.
"Facebook bans fake Russian accounts targeting US voters"
Folks should stop getting all their news and information from Facebook.
I get absolutely zero news from any of the above and very little information about much of anything.
With facebook there's some cute stuff I like to share with friends and family and that's about it.
That's "Great" !
Where do you get your information ?
Meh, I deactivated my account over 5 years ago. I just got tired of listening to else's problems.
"Facebok"
It's the best social media platform for Chickens ever invented...
You still get your mail from there ?
Can you get mail on Facebook (or Facebok)? Have no clue since I've never been on either.
That you know of ?
Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the Kumquat Pol Pot is the one paying them.