Meta closing fake news accounts targeting Ukraine
Meta announced it has taken down a network run by people in Ukraine and Russia targeting Ukraine for violating the company’s policy. The network ran websites posing as independent news entities and created fake personas across many social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Telegram, Odnoklassniki and VK.
“We’ve also seen increased targeting of Ukrainian military and public figures by Ghostwriter, a threat actor that has been tracked for some time by the security community. We encourage people in Ukraine and Russia to adopt stronger account security measures — like two-factor authentication — to protect their information in the midst of this invasion”, Meta said in a blog post.
Meta said it on the request of the Ukrainian government has restricted access to several accounts in Ukraine, including those belonging to some Russian state media organizations.
“We are also reviewing other government requests to restrict Russian state controlled media.”
The company said it has established a special operations centre staffed by experts from across the company, including native Russian and Ukrainian speakers, who are monitoring the platform around the clock.
Among safety features in Ukraine is the ability for people to lock their Facebook profile, removing the ability to view and search friends lists, and additional tools on Messenger.
“We’re taking extensive steps to fight the spread of misinformation by expanding our third-party fact-checking capacity in Russian and Ukrainian. We’re also providing more transparency around state-controlled media outlets, prohibiting ads from Russian state media and demonetizing their accounts.”
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