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Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, said that while the accounts had not been primarily targeted at the United States, there are concerns that accounts like this could be used in Russian-influenced operations as the presidential election approaches. November in the United States.
Gleicher said Facebook has not seen specific evidence of a “hack and leak” operation, but said that “we believe, and I think various experts realistically think, this is one of the threats we should be prepared for.”
Facebook said that the accounts it had closed had mainly focused on “the Far East, the neighboring countries of Russia and Syria.”
“They frequently posted about current news and events, including the Syrian civil war, Turkish national politics, geopolitical issues in the Asia-Pacific region, NATO, the war in Ukraine, and politics in the Baltic countries, Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus and the United States, “Facebook said.
Twitter also said it closed related accounts on its platform that it could “reliably attribute to state-linked entities” in Russia, a Twitter spokesperson told CNN on Thursday.
Facebook said it had evidence that the group had posed as journalists to contact news organizations, something that, Gleicher said, American reporters should be aware of in the final weeks of the election campaign.
Facebook also said it closed accounts linked to people who have been associated with the Internet Investigation Agency (IRA), the infamous group of Russian trolls that used social media to try to meddle in the 2016 election.
Facebook identified a website, linked to the pages it shut down, which describes itself as an “independent analytical center” but is linked to the troll operation.
Facebook identified this after a tip from the FBI, the company said.
Russia has repeatedly denied using social media to interfere in the 2016 elections.
