[ad_1]
Facebook has unveiled its new Election War Room, which is designed to help employees find and remove false information and false accounts intended to block elections. (October 18)
AP
A Facebook sign Elections.(Photo: John Minchillo, AP)
SAN FRANCISCO – Echoing the forces of order, Facebook has removed more than 100 accounts – 30 on Facebook, 85 on Instagram – by engaging in a coordinated activity in French, English and Russian, which suggests that foreign actors are trying to interfere in the wake of mid-term US elections.
Facebook said it was alerted Sunday night of suspicious activity suspected by law enforcement agencies to be linked to foreign entities and blocked the accounts in question. Almost all Facebook pages appear to be in French or Russian, while Instagram accounts were mostly in English. Some were celebrity-focused, others on the political debate, said Facebook.
"As a general rule, we would be more advanced in our analysis before announcing anything publicly.But since we are only one day major elections in the United States, we wanted to inform people of the steps we have taken and facts know them today, "said Nathaniel Gleicher, head of Facebook's cyber security policy, in a blog post. "Once we know more, including whether these accounts are related to the Russian-based Internet Research Agency or to other foreign entities – we will update this post."
The investigation of the activity was announced Monday evening. The company said it was too early in its investigation to determine who was behind the effort or how long the accounts were working. Facebook said they did not know how many people could interact with Facebook and Instagram accounts.
A joint statement from the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Office of the National Intelligence Director and the FBI stated that law enforcement agencies were working in "unprecedented ways" to combat the operations of the state. Foreign influence.
"Americans need to be aware that foreign actors – and Russia in particular – continue to try to influence public sentiment and voter perceptions through actions aimed at sowing discord," the statement said. . "They can do this by spreading false information about political processes and candidates, by lying about their own activities of interference, by spreading propaganda on social media and by other means."
As Americans go to the polls Tuesday, social media companies are on the alert for foreign interference. They are eager to show that they will not allow the rehearsal of the 2016 presidential election in which Russian Kremlin agents linked to Internet Research Agency have used Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to broadcast controversial messages on controversial topics such as race and immigration. influence the way people voted.
More: Facebook unveils Iran's misinformation to sow political discord over Trump and his race
Also: We read each of the 3,517 Facebook ads bought by the Russians. Here is what we found
After strong criticism from lawmakers for failing to detect and eliminate electoral interference in 2016, Facebook has made election protection around the world one of its top priorities. He has set up a "war room" for elections on his campus in Menlo Park, California, where scientists, engineers and other staff are monitoring foreign electoral manipulations, misinformation, voter suppression and other security problems under a big American flag. He also hired more people and strengthened automated systems to monitor what is posted on Facebook. It has also introduced tighter controls on buying policy ads.
Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors that his company is better at detecting foreign electoral interference, but there are things that our systems will miss, even though we are listening.
In August, Facebook said it foiled Iranian and Iranian political influence campaigns targeting US users before the mid-term elections. The campaigns, which mimicked the Kremlin's earlier efforts to stir up political discord around hot issues, also targeted users in the UK, the Middle East and Latin America in an effort to influence global politics.
Two weeks ago, Facebook said it discovered another secret Iranian disinformation campaign aimed at spreading political discord in the United States on controversial issues before the November mid-term elections. The pace of revelations underscores the difficult task of protecting elections from foreign interference on social media.
Iran and Russia have denied any involvement in Facebook's misinformation campaigns.
More: Russian ads on Facebook have exacerbated Hispanic tensions over immigration after Trump's election
Related: Facebook foils campaigns of political influence originating from Iran and Russia before the United States at mid-term
Read or share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/11/05/facebook-foreign-election-meddling-ahead-midterms/1899284002/
Source link
