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Facebook uncovers ‘sophisticated’ efforts to disrupt US elections

The social media giant said 32 accounts were involved in ‘co-ordinated’ behaviour.
The social media giant said 32 accounts were involved in ‘co-ordinated’ behaviour. The social media giant said 32 accounts were involved in ‘co-ordinated’ behaviour.

Facebook said it has uncovered “sophisticated” efforts, possibly linked to Russia, to influence US politics on its platforms.

The social media giant said it removed 32 accounts from Facebook and Instagram because they were involved in “co-ordinated” behaviour and appeared to be fake.

The company said it does not know who is behind the efforts, but said there are may be connections to Russia.

Facebook said it has found some connections between the accounts it removed and the accounts connected to Russia’s Internet Research Agency which it removed before and after the 2016 US presidential elections.

The earliest page was created in March 2017.

Facebook said more than 290,000 accounts followed at least one of the fake pages.

The most followed Facebook Pages were “Aztlan Warriors,” “Black Elevation”, “Mindful Being” and “Resisters”.