Facebook has locked a network of several hundred of Russia organized pages and Accounts, which were in former Soviet republics and in Eastern Europe.
Behind the 289 Facebook pages and 75 Accounts had been employees of the Russian media Agency Sputnik said, the Online network on Thursday. Sputnik is regarded in the West as a Propaganda tool of the Kremlin.
The pages had pretended to be, for example, travel, Sport, or economy focused. Some of them have posted to topics such as Anti-Nato moods, protest movements, or corruption. Around 790,000 Facebook users had subscribed to one or more of these sites, it said. The site operator would have purchased since the 2013 Ads worth of about 135,000 dollars.
in Addition, plans have been announced there, as in similar cases in the United States between the summer of 2015 and the beginning of 2019, around 190 events. It is unclear whether any of these Events had actually taken place, wrote to Facebook. The pages carried the names, such as, for example, “Georgia and Religion”, “the Baltic States and Russia: friends or enemies?” or “Good night, white Russia”.
Facebook had previously blocked in other countries, hundreds of pages and Accounts that had been operated by Russia to manipulate the public opinion in the West. The activity was first noticed in the Wake of the US presidential election campaign in 2016, its extent was not clear until later. The Russian government dismissed the allegations.
Facebook had given the day before, known that in the Ukraine in the run-up to the presidential election at the end of March, no Ads are permitted to political advertising from outside the country. Russia is embroiled for years in a conflict with the Ukraine.
dpa
