Facebook takes down 9 fake networks from 6 countries for violating policy

Facebook has taken down nine networks from six countries in April targeting people with false and deceptive information.

The social network removed 1,565 Facebook accounts, 141 Instagram accounts, 724 Pages and 63 Groups.

In Palestine, Facebook removed 447 Facebook accounts, 256 Pages, 17 Groups, and 54 Instagram accounts from Palestine that targeted primarily Palestine, and to a lesser extent Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, and Qatar.

"In addition, WhatsApp removed multiple accounts that were part of this activity. We found this activity as part of our internal investigation ahead of the election in Palestine and linked it to Fatah, a political party in Palestine," Facebook said in a blog post late on Thursday.

In Mexico, it removed 162 Facebook accounts, 11 Pages, and seven Instagram accounts from Mexico that targeted the state of San Luis Potosi in that country.

"We found this network as part of our internal investigation into suspected coordinated inauthentic behaviour in the region ahead of the Mexican elections, and we linked it to individuals in San Luis Potosi associated with the political campaigns of Xavier Nava (mayoral candidate) and Octavio Pedroza (gubernatorial candidate)," the company added.

In Ukraine, Facebook 477 Facebook accounts, 363 Pages, 35 Groups and 29 Instagram accounts that originated in and targeted Ukraine.

--IANS

na/