Facebook Says It Removed Record Number of Disinformation Campaigns in December

Facebook said it had suspended a little more than 2,800 accounts and pages on its main platform and Instagram.

By Reuters | Updated: 13 January 2021 10:09 IST

Facebook Says It Removed Record Number of Disinformation Campaigns in December

In most of those countries, the networks were focused on forthcoming elections and run by domestic groups

Highlights

The activity spanned 11 countries
Three of the networks announced on Tuesday were first exposed last month
Facebook had no plans to lift block on the account of US President Trump

Facebook identified and suspended 17 disinformation networks on its platforms in December, representing its largest monthly takedown, the US tech giant said on Tuesday.

The social media company said it had suspended a little more than 2,800 accounts and pages on its main platform and photo-sharing site, Instagram, for using fake identities and other forms of so-called "coordinated inauthentic behaviour".

The activity spanned 11 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Morocco, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. In most of those countries, the networks were focused on forthcoming elections and run by domestic groups, Facebook said.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

"Deceptive campaigns like these raise a complex challenge by blurring the line between healthy public debate and manipulation," the company said in a blog post.

Three of the networks announced on Tuesday were first exposed last month and used by rival French and Russian groups to spread competing narratives in the Central African Republic ahead of the country's parliamentary election.

Facebook's operations chief Sheryl Sandberg said on Monday the company had no plans to lift its block on the accounts of US President Donald Trump as it clamped down on a misleading phrase that has become a rallying cry for Trump's supporters.

Facebook Has No Plans to Lift Donald Trump Ban, Sheryl Sandberg Says

© Thomson Reuters 2020

What will be the most exciting tech launch of 2021? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.