Facebook cracks down on 1,000 fake networks, accounts

Bloomberg

Facebook Inc. said it removed 14 networks representing more than 1,000 accounts seeking to sway politics around the world, while misleading the public about their identity.
Most of the removed networks were in the early stages of building their audiences, the Menlo Park, California-based company said. Facebook’s announcement, part of its monthly reporting on efforts to rid its platforms of fake accounts, represents one of the larger crack downs by the company in
recent months.
“We have been growing this program for several years,” said David Agranovich, Facebook’s global threat disruption lead. “I would expect to see this drum beat of take downs to continue.”
In one example, the company removed a network of more than 300 accounts, pages and groups on Facebook and the photo-sharing app Instagram that appear to be run by a years-old troll farm located in Albania.
The company also removed 118 accounts, eight pages and 10 Instagram accounts based in Spain and El Salvador for violating the company’s foreign interference policy. The group amplified criticism of Henry Flores, a mayoral candidate in Santa Tecla, El Savador and supportive commentary of his
rivals, the company said.
The social media giant also took down a network of 29 accounts, two pages, one group and 10 Instagram accounts. The company took down networks based in
Argentina, Mexico and other nations.

Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of security policy, said the company has improved its ability to identify inauthentic accounts, but said bad actors continue to change their strategies to avoid Facebook’s detection.