INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Facebook said Tuesday it shut down more than 30 fake pages
(Representational)San Francisco: Facebook said Tuesday it shut down more than 30 fake pages and accounts involved in what appeared to be a
"coordinated" effort to stoke hot-button social issues ahead of November midterm US elections, but cannot identify the source despite hints
Russia was involved.It said the "bad actor" accounts on the world's biggest social network and its photo-sharing site Instagram could not be
tied to Russian actors, who US officials say used the platform to spread disinformation ahead of the 2016 presidential election in the
United States.But the tech giant did say "some of the activity is consistent" with that of the Saint Petersburg-based Internet Research
Agency (IRA) -- the Russian troll farm that managed many false Facebook accounts used to influence the 2016 vote."We have found evidence of
connections between these accounts and previously identified IRA accounts, but we don't believe the evidence is strong enough at this time
to make public attribution to the IRA," Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos said during a conference call with reporters. "We can't
say for sure if this is the IRA with improved capabilities or a different organization."The investigation is at an early stage, revealed now
because one of the pages being covertly operated was orchestrating a real-world counter-protest to a "Unite the Right" event in Washington,
DC, on August 10.Facebook is sharing information about the pages and accounts with intelligence officials, and planned to notify members of
the social network who expressed interest in attending the counter-protest.Facebook said it is shutting down 32 pages and accounts "engaged
in coordinated inauthentic behavior" even though it may never be known for certain what group or country was behind them."Attribution is not
necessary for us to find and stop this behavior," Stamos said.Russian trolls eyedFacebook has briefed US law enforcement agencies, Congress
and other tech companies about its findings."Today's disclosure is further evidence that the Kremlin continues to exploit platforms like
Facebook to sow division and spread disinformation, and I am glad that Facebook is taking some steps to pinpoint and address this activity,"
US Senator Mark Warner, the Senate intelligence committee's ranking Democrat, said in a statement."I also expect Facebook, along with other
platform companies, will continue to identify Russian troll activity and to work with Congress on updating our laws to better protect our
democracy in the future."The company said those behind the campaign had been "more careful to cover their tracks, adding: "We've found
evidence of some connections between these accounts and IRA accounts we disabled last year () but there are differences too."Some of the
most-followed pages that were shut down included "Resisters" and "Aztlan Warriors."The "Resisters" page enlisted support from real followers
for an August protest in Washington against the far-right "Unite the Right" group.Stamos confirmed that pages also played into immigration
issues with references to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.Inauthentic pages dating back more than a year organized an array
of real world events, all but two of which have taken place, according to Facebook.The news comes just days after Facebook suffered the
worst single-day evaporation of market value for any company, after missing revenue forecasts for the second quarter and offering soft
growth projections.Mark Zuckerberg's firm says the slowdown will come in part due to its new approach to privacy and security -- one which
helped experts uncover these so-called "bad actors.""We face determined, well-funded adversaries who will never give up and are constantly
It's an arms race and we need to constantly improve too," Facebook said."It's why we're investing heavily in more people and better
technology to prevent bad actors misusing Facebook -- as well as working much more closely with law enforcement and other tech companies to
better understand the threats we face."(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is
published from a syndicated feed.)
