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| Meta sees an increase in people targeting in Ukraine |
Meta said that during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, a hacker group used the Facebook platform to target a number of public figures in Ukraine, including prominent military figures, politicians and a journalist.
Meta said it had shut down over the past 48 hours a network of about 40 fake Facebook and Instagram accounts, groups and pages from Russia and Ukraine, respectively, targeting Ukrainians to coordinate against their ban on inauthentic behavior.
A Twitter spokesperson said it had also suspended more than a dozen accounts and banned many links from sharing for violating platform manipulation and spam rules. She said her ongoing investigations indicate that the accounts originated in Russia and were trying to disrupt public discussion of the conflict in Ukraine.
Meta blamed the hack on a group called Ghostwriters, who said they gained access to the target's social media accounts.
Meta said the hackers tried to post videos on YouTube depicting the weakness of the Ukrainian army, including a video claiming that Ukrainian soldiers emerged from a forest and raised the white flag of surrender.
Ukrainian cybersecurity officials said hackers from neighboring Belarus targeted the private email addresses of the Ukrainian military and associated staff, and they blamed a group called UNC1151.
Cybersecurity company FireEye previously associated UNC1151 with Ghostwriter activities.
The metadata protection team says it has taken steps to secure the targeted accounts and block phishing domains used by hackers.
She refused to name targets. But he said he would warn users whenever possible.
Meta tells about user protection in Ukraine
Mehta said a separate influencer campaign used fictional characters claiming to be based in Kyiv. It operates a few websites masquerading as independent news outlets. These media have published allegations that the West has betrayed Ukraine, calling it a failed state.
The company said it uncovered a link between the influence network and an operation that it shut down in April 2020. The operation linked individuals from Russia, Ukraine's Donbas region and two media outlets in Crimea, NewsFront and SouthFront.
Meta refuses to disclose impressions or opinions of the Influential Content. But she says she saw very low posts, shares or reactions.
Nor did he mention the duration of the campaign on his platform. But, she added, the campaign also uses YouTube Telegram and Russian social media sites Odnoklassniki and VK.
The Ukrainian crisis has escalated the conflict between Moscow and big technology groups. Russia said it is partially restricting access to Facebook. Mita said the move came after he rejected a government request to end independent fact-checking in several Russian state media outlets. Twitter also said its service is limited to some Russian users.
Before and during the Russian invasion, Ukraine experienced many digital intrusions and denial of service actions. Several major technology companies have announced measures to enhance the security and privacy of their users in the country.
Meta, which has removed the ability to view and search friend lists from Facebook accounts in Ukraine, said it is also making changes in Russia in response to public reports from civil society and targeted protesters.