Facebook: Russia is Largest Driver of Disinformation

Islam News – Russia continues to be the largest producer of disinformation on social media, with the country being the source of the most fake and misleading Facebook accounts, according to a new report.

A report from Facebook published Wednesday revealed that the social media giant has uncovered disinformation campaigns in more than 50 countries since 2017 and that Russia is the top source of “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” with 27 of the fake networks identified.

Coordinated inauthentic behavior is “any coordinated network of accounts, pages and groups that centrally relies on fake accounts to mislead Facebook and people using our services about who is behind it and what they are doing,” according to Facebook.

Behind Russia, Iran is the second largest source of such networks, with 23. It is followed by Myanmar and the U.S. with nine and Ukraine with eight networks.

The policy against coordinated inauthentic behavior instituted at Facebook was developed in response to foreign interference by Russian actors in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The report details several Russian disinformation networks that Facebook has dismantled, including one run by Russian military intelligence that focused on Ukraine and neighboring countries
In both cases, Facebook’s report states that the disinformation gained no significant traction and claims of a larger operation were false.

In response to Facebook’s increased efforts to stop disinformation networks, the more sophisticated actors, including from Russia and China, have improved their operational security and “are showing more discipline to avoid careless mistakes” and being caught.

Source : U.S.News