Facebook notice to counter fake accounts
(Effective or not - time will tell)
San Francisco
(AFP) - Facebook said today that it had shut
down more than 30 fake pages and accounts involved in what appeared to be a “coordinated
effort” to stoke hot-button social issues ahead of November midterm elections,
but could not definitely ID the source despite hints Russia was involved.
Facebook said the “bad actor accounts” on the world's biggest
social network and its photo-sharing site Instagram could not be tied to
Russian actors, who American officials say used the platform to spread
disinformation ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
But, Facebook did say “some of the activity is consistent with
that of the Saint Petersburg-based Internet
Research Agency (IRA)” – that is the Russian troll farm
that managed many false Facebook accounts used to influence the 2016 vote,
adding: “We have found evidence of connections between these accounts and
previously identified IRA accounts, but we don't believe the evidence is strong
enough at this time to make public attribution to the IRA,” said Facebook’s
chief security officer Alex Stamos during
a conference call with reporters, he then concluded: “We can't say for sure if
this is the IRA with improved capabilities or a different organization.”
My
2 cents: Needless to say, this is a huge development and one that many intelligence
agencies and hi-tech experts have predicted since hearings and news without exception
blamed Russia for the 2016 hacking and meddling and such.
This latest from Facebook more
of less provides more evidence in that regard about their sustained efforts – so, we are now left to wonder: What
will Trump say about this latest from intrusion into our democratic process by his
newest BFF, Vladimir Putin, um?
We wait with bated breath as it
were. Stay tuned.
Thanks for stopping by.
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