Facebook removes Russian networks that interfered in 2016 vote

Facebook shut down two Russian disinformation networks operated by the nation’s intelligence services and a third by people affiliated with a notorious troll farm that interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the company announced Thursday.

The networks focused their efforts in numerous nations in Europe and Asia, with relatively little reach among U.S. audiences, Facebook concluded. But the involvement of people and entities that previously had targeted American politics underscored the ongoing threat posed by Russia’s disinformation machinery, which U.S. intelligence officials have said is attempting to interfere in November’s presidential vote.

The tactics described by Facebook and outside researchers who studied the same networks suggest that Russia increasingly is using phony news sites and think tanks to lend credibility to its disinformation, in some cases involving unwitting freelance writers in the operations. This is a shift from the 2016 election and its immediate aftermath, when Russian operations were broader in their targeting, using fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media platforms to spread messages to mass audiences.