Facebook has announced it has removed in excess of 800 accounts as part of a crackdown on so called "fake news". Coincidentally the move comes as the US approaches the US mid-term elections and at a time when the Social outlet is under intense scrutiny as to how it manages disinformation.
In a post Facebook´s Head of Cyber-Security, Nathaniel Gleicher said “Today, we’re removing 559 pages and 251 accounts that have consistently broken our rules against spam" and what he called "coordinated inauthentic behavior” He went on to add that “Given the activity we’ve seen — and its timing ahead of the U.S. midterm elections — we wanted to give some details about the types of behavior that led to this action.”
The company has collectively removed more than 800 pages and accounts showing
“inauthentic behavior” designed to mislead users about who they are and what they are doing. That could include anything from using the profile to send spam or post comments created to stir up political debate, to money-motivated ad farms disguising themselves as forums for discussion.
