[ad_1]
Facebook
Inc.
has removed hundreds of pages and reports from the United States that broadcast false or misleading political content before the midterm elections, in one of the most aggressive efforts of the social network to end the misinformation spread mainly by Americans.
The social media giant, which has removed 559 pages and 251 accounts, said Thursday that accounts "systematically violate the rules of spam and coordinated unauthentic behavior", including making their content appear more popular than "spam." before. Almost all the pages came from the United States, the company said.
Removed pages include Right Wing News, which has more than 3 million followers, as well as left-wing pages like Resistance and Reverb Press. Facebook added that the sites were removed due to behavioral violations, not their content.
The social media giant and others continue to fight to end the misuse of their platforms despite widespread criticism and repeated promises to solve the problem. In February, the special lawyer Robert Mueller got the indictment of a group of Russians for using the platform and other people to sow discord before the 2016 presidential campaign Russia denied having tried to interfere in the elections.
In its announcement Thursday, Facebook said that many pages "used fake accounts or multiple accounts with the same name" and had posted large amounts of content on the site to drive traffic to their websites, the company said.
"Topics such as natural disasters or celebrity gossip have been popular ways to generate clickbait," said Facebook. "But today, these networks are using more and more sensational political content, regardless of their political orientation, to build an audience and drive traffic to their websites, thus making money for every visitor of the site. "
A page for Nation in Distress was disabled on Facebook on Thursday afternoon and posted a message saying "Sorry, this content is not available at this time". She had featured on the social network as "the first online publication to support President Donald J Trump" and had garnered over 3 million likes.
The Reverb Press page has also been disabled, but its content is still available on its website. It contained a number of articles attacking President Trump with titles such as "Trump's pathetic response to the UN climate change report:" I want to see who drew it. "
Earlier this month,
In August, Facebook said it had removed 32 accounts from its main service and Instagram photo-sharing app, which was engaged in coordinated political turmoil. disinformation efforts.
"As we learn more about this type of abuse, its perpetrators – whether motivated by economic or political considerations – will change tactics to escape detection," said Facebook, adding "people will not share on Facebook." only if they feel safe and confident. the connections they make here. "
"There are legitimate reasons for the accounts and pages to coordinate with each other, which is the foundation of fundraising and local organizations," said Facebook, adding that the difference is that these groups are straightforward. who they are and what they do.
– Stephen Nakrosis contributed to this article.
Write to Nick Kostov at [email protected]
Source link
