USA TODAY International Edition
Facebook removes 32 fake pages, accounts
Social network uncovers push to disrupt midterms
SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook has detected a covert campaign to influence the November midterms by targeting hot-button social issues, raising the possibility that Russia is again attempting to interfere in U.S. elections.
The 32 fake pages and accounts, which were created between March 2017 and May 2018 and were first discovered two weeks ago, have not been definitively tied to Russia or the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency. Facebook will leave that determination to law enforcement currently investigating the activity, its security chief Alex Stamos said.
The revelation comes after warnings from intelligence and law enforcement officials that Russia would engage in election interference in this year’s elections as it did during the 2016 presidential election.
More than 290,000 Facebook accounts followed the fake pages, which had such names as “Aztlan Warriors,” “Black Elevation,” “Mindful Being” and “Resisters,” according to Facebook.
The eight Facebook pages, 17 Facebook profiles and seven Instagram accounts were not pushing specific candidates but sought to stir anger on issues such as race and immigration and appear to have been aimed at leftleaning voters. Facebook declined to characterize the posts and ads.
Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said the pages and accounts were removed Tuesday. Collectively, the fake pages spent about $11,000 on 150 ads on Facebook and Instagram, paid for in U.S. and Canadian dollars and placed between April 2017 and June 2018. The fake pages also created more than 9,500 posts on Facebook and one on Instagram.
“The goal of these operations is to sow discord, distrust, and division in an attempt to undermine public faith in our institutions and our political system. The Russians want a weak America,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., said in a statement.
Facebook is in the early stages of its investigation but found connections between the fake accounts and IRA accounts, Stamos said. A known IRA account was briefly – for about seven minutes – the co-administrator of one of the Facebook pages before the account was removed from Facebook.
“Some of the tools, techniques and procedures of this actor are consistent with those we saw from the IRA in 2016 and 2017,” Stamos said. “We can’t say for sure whether this is the IRA with improved capabilities or a separate group, based on what we know today.”
The tactics deployed in the campaign were strikingly similar to Russian interference in the presidential election but were more carefully disguised, Facebook said.
“It’s clear that whoever set up these accounts went to much greater lengths to obscure their true identities than the Russian-based Internet Research Agency,” Sandberg said. “We face determined, well-funded adversaries who won’t give up and are constantly changing tactics.”