Facebook Removes 32 Pages and Accounts Which Have Engaged in ‘Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior’ Ahead of Midterms

It looks like the 2018 election is under attack. And once again, the assailants appear to be using Facebook.

The social media giant announced that it has removed 32 pages and accounts from Facebook and Instagram which they say were “involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior.”

According to The New York Times, which first reported the news, these accounts have engaged in a “coordinated political influence campaign.”

Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, identified several of the accounts by name — including; “Aztlan Warriors,” “Black Elevation,” “Mindful Being,” and “Resisters.”

The Resisters page, according to Gleicher, created a Facebook event for a protest which was to take place in Washington on Aug. 10-12 called “No Unite the Right 2.”

“Inauthentic admins of the ‘Resisters’ Page connected with admins from five legitimate Pages to co-host the event,” Gleicher wrote. “These legitimate Pages unwittingly helped build interest in ‘No Unite Right 2 – DC’ and posted information about transportation, materials, and locations so people could get to the protests.”

The company says it plans to share additional findings with law enforcement and Congress. Public scrutiny on Facebook has, of course, increased dramatically since the Cambridge Analytica data breach in which roughly 50 million Facebook users had their data compromised.

[image via screengrab]

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