Facebook removes 1,521 malicious accounts

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook has removed 915 malicious accounts from its main app and 606 fake accounts from Instagram in February that were involved in misleading users. The social network also removed 86 Pages and 21 Groups last month involved in coordinated inauthentic behaviour on behalf of a foreign or government actor and domestic bad actors.

Facebook said that it removed 446 Facebook accounts, 4 Pages, 3 Groups and 2 Instagram accounts that originated in Iran and targeted primarily Iraq, and to a lesser extent Israel, the UK, and Afghanistan. "Our investigation found links to individuals in Tehran. We found this network after reviewing public reporting about a handful of its accounts focused on Israel. Our internal investigation uncovered the broader network," the company said in a statement last week.

It removed 530 Instagram accounts that originated primarily in Russia and targeted domestic audiences throughout the recent protests in support of Alexey Navalny, an anti-corruption activist and opposition politician in Russia. "We detected and disabled the vast majority of these accounts, including through automation, as they began posting," Facebook informed. (IANS)

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