Facebook Says Removes 168 Accounts Involved In Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior In Moldova

Facebook removed 168 accounts, 28 pages and eight Instagram accounts involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior in Moldova ahead of the parliamentary election in the country.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2019) Facebook removed 168 accounts, 28 pages and eight Instagram accounts involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior in Moldova ahead of the parliamentary election in the country.

"Earlier this week, we removed 168 Facebook accounts, 28 Pages and eight Instagram accounts for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior targeting people in Moldova. This activity originated in Moldova, and used a combination of fake accounts and some authentic accounts to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing. Given the upcoming elections in Moldova, we wanted to let people know about the action we've taken and the facts as we know them today," Facebook said in a press release.

Facebook found out that administrators of these pages and accounts' owners were spreading politics-related information, in particular devoted to such issues as Russian or English language education and reunification with Romania.

"They also shared manipulated photos, divisive narratives and satire and impersonated a local fact checking organization's Page that called out other Pages for spreading fake news. Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities, our manual review found that some of this activity was linked to employees of the Moldovan government," Facebook said.

These accounts and pages had tens of thousands of followers, the press release added.

The Moldovan parliamentary elections will be held on February 24.