Facebook Removes 40 Accounts In Russia Allegedly Targeting Africa - Statement

Facebook on Wednesday removed dozens of pages and accounts that it said were linked to three networks in Russia engaged in foreign interference in the Central African Republic, Madagascar, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire and Cameroon

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2019) Facebook on Wednesday removed dozens of pages and accounts that it said were linked to three networks in Russia engaged in foreign interference in the Central African Republic, Madagascar, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire and Cameroon.

"Today, we removed three networks of accounts, pages and groups for engaging in foreign interference - which is coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign actor - on Facebook and Instagram," Facebook said. "They originated in Russia and targeted Madagascar, Central African Republic, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Sudan and Libya."

Facebook said its investigation connected the three networks to entities associated with Russian financier Yevgeniy Prigozhin, who was previously indicted by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller on allegations of meddling in the 2016 US election. Prigozhin denies any wrongdoing, and Russia has strongly rejected US allegations of interference in the vote.

The accounts associated with the three networks "typically posted about global and local political news including topics like Russian policies in Africa, elections in Madagascar and Mozambique, election monitoring by a local non-governmental organization and criticism of French and US policies," Facebook said.

The company added that the accounts had attracted up to 475,000 followers and had spent some $77,000 in online advertisements.

Facebook has repeatedly removed accounts and pages originating in Russia, including several belonging to Russian media outlets. Russian officials have said Facebook's accusations make no sense and amount to censorship.

Russia has repeatedly denied allegations of foreign meddling, saying the US allegations of interference in the 2016 vote were invented to excuse the loss of the Democratic candidate and to deflect public attention from actual instances of fraud and corruption.