Facebook is removing more than 270 pages and accounts operated by the same Russian organization which attempted to sway the 2016 U.S. presidential election, said CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
In a post on his Facebook page on Tuesday, Zuckerberg said the company had found evidence the Internet Research Agency (IRA) had been attempting to manipulate public opinion in Russia through several Facebook and Instagram accounts.
The IRA had also "repeatedly acted deceptively and tried to manipulate people" in the U.S. and Europe in the past, Zuckerberg said. It was responsible for setting up a hundreds of fake accounts in order to influence the latest U.S. presidential election, he added.
Facebook security officer Alex Stamos further detailed in a Facebook newsroom post that majority of accounts removed today were in Russian, and aimed at people living in Russia or Russian-speaking countries like Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. The accounts werewere posting content about domestic and international political issues, Russian culture and tourism, and stirring debate on everyday topics.
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