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| Facebook clarifies the details of its removal of a mass harassment network |
Facebook has released a global update on the progress of its work to remove fake and hostile networks from its platform.
The social network has released a new report stating that it has successfully shut down several networks that coordinate inappropriate behaviour. But in addition to all the networks of fake accounts that exist side by side, the company has also explained how to respond to other threats.
This includes the use of negative comments, the posting of personal messages against spam, and reports of groups using Facebook's anti-harassment tools as a weapon.
This is another step beyond the company's broader strategy announced in September that promises to address the broader social harm on its platform.
The company cracked down on a network of accounts originating in Italy and France targeting medical professionals, journalists and government officials.
This activity can be traced back to an anti-vaccine conspiracy campaign called V_V in Europe, Facebook said, adding that its members used a large number of fake accounts to make extensive comments on the contributions of individuals and others to intimidate and turn them into a crackdown. .
In addition, these accounts also published fake photos, put Nazi symbols on the faces of the most famous doctors, and accused them of supporting Nazism.
In Vietnam, Facebook shut down a network targeting activists and users critical of the local government.
The network submitted hundreds (in some cases thousands) of complaints for its abuse reporting targets.
The attackers also created duplicate accounts for users who tried to disable them, then flagged the real accounts as fake.
Facebook added that the company's automated audit tool will automatically detect and disable some of these fake accounts.
Facebook publishes a new threat report
For the old tactic of faulty coordination behavior, the company cut its networks in Palestine, Poland, Belarus and China.
The company said that the operational security of the Polish network is very good, and it is not currently able to connect it with a real organization.
On the other hand, the operational security of the Belarusian network is significantly weaker, so that the company connects its activities with the Belarusian KGB.
In addition, Facebook announced that it has launched a tool via CrowdTangle. This is intended to enable OSINT researchers to study disinformation networks.
This includes any content that the storage company has removed so that a small group of trusted third parties can analyze it.
Previously, visits were restricted to teams from the Atlantic Council's Digital Research Lab. In addition to the Stanford Internet Observatory, the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy, Graphica and Cardiff University.
Additionally, the company believes that researchers in the OSINT community will be better able to follow them in the future if they come up with more detailed and transparent ways to find these networks.