The shadow of misinformation and fake accounts hang over Facebook again. This time not in the context of the US election, though Russia is still more present than ever. The war in Ukraine has been a new challenge for the platform, now called Meta, and its efforts – on some occasions discussed – to fight against false information and security.
Facebook announced this Sunday that it has discovered a campaign from Russia against the government of Ukraine, in which they have spread false information and have tried to hack Ukrainian journalists and military. The company claimed that the impact of this campaign has been less than it might have been if it had not been caught early.
Specifically, the Russian government would have created close to 40 accounts, pages and groups on Facebook and Instagram, in which they spread false information about the war in Ukraine such as that the country is a failed state. Through false profiles, the objective was to impersonate independent media to promote disinformation.
The fake accounts within the Russian campaign even posted on other social networks, such as Twitter, YouTube, Telegram and the Russian platforms VK and Odnoklassniki, reported Washington Post. On Facebook, they had about 5000 followersalthough the company has not given details on how many people interacted with them.
The fake profiles of supposedly independent media outlets were blocked and Meta announced that it found links to another network of fake accounts that was removed in 2020, in the context of the US elections. These are two media organizations, called NewsFront and SouthFrontwho are in the Crimea region and that the United States sanctioned for promoting disinformation. Apparently, this network would have links with the Russian intelligence services.
Hacks in the middle of the Ukraine war
On the other hand, Meta stated that it has also managed to stop attempts to hack journalists, military personnel and public figures in Ukraine. Apparently, the group of hackers called Ghostwriter would be behind the attacks of phishingwith which they try to take control of the social networks and emails of those affected.
Meta has alerted people in Ukraine who may have been affected by the hackers, but has not released information about their identities or if they achieved their goal.
Since the war in Ukraine began, Facebook has taken steps such as restrict the operations of Russian media such as RussiaToday (RT). The outlet has been blocked in Ukraine – at the request of the government – and they can no longer earn money from advertising. Even the European Union has vetoed RT, as well as others from Russia, for their disinformation campaigns. In Russia, in response to Facebook’s actions, access to the platform has been limited.
Netblocks, a civil society group that monitors internet traffic around the world, reported Sunday night that Facebook had been restricted by Russian providers. It has not, however, been completely blocked, and the contents do not load or load extremely slowly.
Return the nightmare of disinformation
The war in Ukraine has been the new scenario for the shadow of Russian disinformation to hover over Facebook again. A nightmare that started in the US elections in 2016, in which Donald Trump won the presidency. Also in 2014, when the crisis began in Ukraine due to the famous euromaidan.
The efforts of platforms like Facebook to stop the campaigns were, in the first instance, insufficient because they did not arrive on time. It seems that, at least in this case, the network has been dismantled before it can do any more damage. Security experts at companies like Facebook have had a long time to analyze how these networks work. It is true that disinformation strategies are, in some cases, very obvious. But the threat has not ceased and the dangers of Russia when it comes to disinformation are more present than ever. It remains to be seen if Facebook will be able to stop all the Kremlin’s attempts to spread its lies.