Facebook identifies new political manipulation campaign

Facebook has spotted new attempts at political manipulation of its platform in the run-up to the November US legislative elections, refraining from identifying the perpetrators while letting the eyes turn to Russia.

The world's first social network was violently criticized last year for serving as a platform for misinformation for political manipulation during the 2016 US presidential election, political interference attributed to Russia by US intelligence services

The special prosecutor Robert Mueller, in charge of the investigation into the suspicions of Russian interference in this presidential campaign, had precisely targeted a few months ago many Facebook accounts and pages managed by the http: // www .lepoint.fr / "Internet Research Agency" (IRA), suspected of being a digital arm of the Kremlin, which the latter has always denied vigoureus

"We are still investigating, but anyone who has created this network of (false) accounts has taken great care to hide the true identities and therefore we still do not know for sure who is responsible. That said, part of this activity is similar to what the Internet Research Agency did "before and after the 2016 election," group boss Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday.

"We are doing in the face of very sophisticated and well-financed opponents, especially nation-states, who are constantly evolving and attempting new attacks, "he continued.

Stoking tensions

The network also explained that it found "links" between deleted accounts "and IRA accounts deactivated last year."

"President (Donald Trump) made it clear that his administration would not tolerate foreign interference in our process elections on behalf of any nation or other malicious actors, "Hogan Gidley, a White House spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday evening.

Facebook announced that it had deleted 32 Pages and accounts questionable (most on Facebook but some on Instagram, owned by the group), which he said was a "coordinated action".

As in 2016, these accounts broadcast messages on controversial topics that divide American society – such as racial tensions – and even paid to spread them more widely on the network through the purchase of advertising space ("ads"), for a total of $ 11,000, according to the group.

Facebook has cited examples, including a call for a political demonstration next weekend in Washington.

This new campaign has used much more sophisticated means to cover his tracks and to circumvent the measures of control taken by Facebook these last months, intended to identify and stop the manipulation. Accounts and pages in particular have avoided using Russian IP addresses (the IP address is used to locate the origin of an Internet connection).

Repeating several times that it did not return to Facebook of attributing these manipulative attempts "to a specific organization or to a country," Facebook's security chief Alex Stamos said it was "up to the security forces to make the decision" to attribute these attempts to a entity or a country.

Predictable

The group reported having informed law enforcement and parliamentarians of its discoveries.

The social network had already said it expected further manipulation attempts via its platform ahead of mid-term elections in the United States this fall. US intelligence chief Dan Coats has warned several times that Russia will resume revenue in 2016 to try to influence the polls in November.

Welcoming the measures taken by Facebook, Democrat Senator Mark Warner did not hesitate to accuse Russia.

"I expect (…) that Facebook, as well as other platforms, continue to identify the activity of the + troll + Russian and work with the Congress to improve our laws to better protect our democracy in the world. "future", he said on Twitter.

For Adam Schiff, Democratic Representative in the House, "malevolent actors abroad use exactly the same (technique) as in 2016: we divide politically and ideologically. "

Facebook detected and suppressed in 2017 many questionable pages and accounts managed from Russia that served to fuel the tensions of American society.

In total, more than 290,000 accounts followed at least one incriminated pages. The most followed were "Aztlan Warriors" (dedicated to historical figures like the Indian chief Geronimo), "Black Elevation", "Mindful Being" or "Resisters", which evoked, in particular, the question of gender stereotypes.

According to a New York Times article, relayed to Facebook's Twitter account, company officials said in congressional meetings that "Russia could be involved" in this new case.

At the beginning of the year, US justice indicted 13 Russians and three Russian entities for interference in the US elections and political process. Twelve Russian intelligence agents were also indicted in the United States in mid-July for interference in the 2016 presidential election.

01/08/2018 01:43:55 –
San Francisco (AFP) –
© 2018 AFP