The Russia connectionFacebook deletes hundreds of Russian troll pages

Facebook announced it had shut down more than 360 pages and accounts, with some tied to the Internet Research Agency (IRA). The IRA, the St. Petersburgh-based troll farm, was sub-contracted by the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service, to orchestrate the Kremlin’s effective social media disinformation campaign during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, aiming to ensure Donald Trump’s victory.

The IRA has employed the same methods it used on behalf of Trump successfully to support other populist, ethno-nationalist, anti-immigration, anti-EU, anti-NATO, and pro-Russia politicians and political parties in more than two dozen countries, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Greece, and Bulgaria.  

Facebook, under growing pressure, has started to address online influence operations and hate speech.

Facebook on Thursday said it removed hundreds of pages and dozens of accounts for “coordinated inauthentic behavior” linking back to a Russian network operating in parts of Europe and central Asia.

DW notes that from the United States to Germany, Facebook has come under immense pressure to combat fake news, disinformation campaigns, and hate speech on its platforms.

Among the pages and accounts affected:

·  At least 289 pages and 75 accounts were deleted on Facebook.

·  The accounts and pages were “linked to employees of Sputnik,” a state-owned news agency based in Moscow.

·  They frequently posted about “topics like anti-NATO sentiment, protest movements and anti-corruption.”

·  Some $135,000 was spent in Facebook ads “paid for in euros, rubles and U.S. dollars.”

Nathaniel Gleicher, who heads cybersecurity policy at Facebook, said:

·  “We’re taking down these Pages and accounts based on their behavior, not the content they post.”

·  “In these cases, the people behind this activity coordinated with one another and used fake accounts to misrepresent themselves, and that was the basis for our action.”

·  “While we are making progress rooting out this abuse, as we’ve said before, it’s an ongoing challenge because the people responsible are determined and well funded.”

In Europe, Facebook has come under pressure to deal with disinformation campaigns and hate speech on its platforms, most notably ahead of European Parliament elections scheduled for May.

European officials have described online influence campaigns as part of “Russia’s military doctrine,”  which aims to “divide and weaken the West.”

In December, Andrus Ansip, EU vice president for the digital single market, said European authorities “have seen attempts to interfere in elections and referenda, with evidence pointing to Russia as a primary source of these campaigns.”

On Wednesday, Facebook announced it would introduce additional protections concerning with regard to political advertising, including “transparency tools,” ahead of major elections this year, including the European Parliament vote.