Facebook To Notify Users If They Liked A Fake Russian Account

Recently there have been reports of how Russia is trying to influence events in the US by spreading propaganda through fake accounts on social media. Companies like Google have found Russia-linked ads across its services like YouTube, Google Search, and Gmail. They are not alone as Facebook has found similar ads on its social network.

In a bid to make things more transparent, Facebook has announced a new tool where they will notify users if they might have liked a fake Russian account on its platform. “As part of that continuing commitment, we will soon be creating a portal to enable people on Facebook to learn which of the Internet Research Agency Facebook Pages or Instagram accounts they may have liked or followed between January 2015 and August 2017.”

They add, “It is important that people understand how foreign actors tried to sow division and mistrust using Facebook before and after the 2016 US election. That’s why as we have discovered information, we have continually come forward to share it publicly and have provided it to congressional investigators.”

Last month Facebook had also announced that Russian-linked content had reached more users than was previously thought, and that it could have reached as many as 126 million users on Facebook.

Intel committee ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has also reached out to Engadget with a statement that reads:

During our open hearing with Facebook, Twitter and Google earlier this month, we asked them to notify their users if they had been targeted by or seen content as part of the Russian active measures campaign. The move by Facebook to allow users to see if they liked or followed pages created by the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency is a very positive step.

We look forward to additional steps by the companies to improve transparency with respect to Russian abuse of their platforms, and urge them to furnish a joint report on how Russia used these platforms to sow discord and influence the election.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Facebook