Facebook on Friday said it took down a network of accounts using fake identities while spreading pro-Trump messages at the social network and Instagram.

The campaign was one of two derailed for "engaging in foreign and government interference" and endeavoring "to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing," according to Facebook head of security policy Nathaniel Gleicher.

"In each of these cases, the people behind this activity coordinated with one another and used fake accounts to misrepresent themselves, and that was the basis for our action," Gleicher said in an online post.

The announcement marked the latest move by the huge social network against manipulation by accounts created with fake identities to amplify a political group or cause.

One campaign was traced by Facebook to US-based Epoch Media Group, which has been connect to controversial religious organization Falun Gong, and an outlet known as The BL, according to Gleicher.

"The BL-focused network repeatedly violated a number of our policies, including our policies against coordinated inauthentic behavior, spam and misrepresentation, to name just a few," Gleicher said.

The BL has been banned from Facebook, he added.

Facebook removed 610 accounts, 89 pages, 156 groups and 72 Instagram accounts that originated in Vietnam and the US, some of which used profile photos generated by artificial intelligence and pretended to be people from the US, according to the social network.

The accounts "typically posted memes and other content about US political news and issues including impeachment, conservative ideology, political candidates, elections, trade, family values and freedom of religion," Gleicher said.

Examples provided of posts were pro-Trump.

About 55 million accounts followed one or more pages orchestrated by the campaign, which spent less than $9.5 million on advertising at Facebook and Instagram combined, according to the California-based internet firm.

The second network of accounts taken down at Facebook and Instagram originated in the country of Georgia and targeted people there, according to Gleicher.

"Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, our investigation linked this activity to Panda, an advertising agency in Georgia, and the Georgian Dream-led government."

A total of 39 Facebook accounts, 344 pages, 13 groups and 22 Instagram accounts that had amassed more than 440,000 followers overall were removed after being linked to the Georgia campaign.

The news came on the same day Twitter it had suspended thousands of accounts linked to a manipulation effort stemming from Saudi Arabia, aiming to amplify messages favorable to the government at home and abroad.

Facebook bans false information about US census
San Francisco (AFP) Dec 19, 2019 - Facebook on Thursday banned posts or ads that interfere with people taking part in the US census, which will have an online participation option next year for the first time.

New policies go into effect next month at Facebook and its image-centric Instagram community, according to an online post by public policy vice president Kevin Martin and civic engagement product management director Samidh Chakrabarti.

"We must do our part to ensure an accurate census count, which is critical for the distribution of federal funds, the apportioning of electoral representatives and the functioning of a democracy," the executives said.

The census interference policy bans deception about when or how to take part in the US census, or the significance of participating, according to the California-based internet titan.

Also banned are ads that portray taking part in the US count of its residents as meaningless or advise people not to be counted.

"Next year, all US households will be able to complete the US census online for the first time," said Chakrabarti and Martin.

"This means we have to be more vigilant about protecting against census interference across posts and ads on Facebook and Instagram and help promote an accurate count of every person in the country."

Facebook, which has faced criticism for its hands-off policy on misleading comments from politicians, said it would not allow political actors to post false information about the census, in a policy similar to that on "voter interference."

"Content that violates our census interference policy will not be allowed to remain on our platforms as newsworthy even if posted by a politician," the statement said.

The move comes with online platforms struggling to deal with an avalanche of disinformation while remaining open to for political debate and free speech.

Google last month placed restrictions on how advertisers can target specific groups of voters, while clarifying its policy by indicating it does not allow "false claims" in advertising, political or otherwise.

Twitter has banned most kinds of political ads to steer clear of checking the veracity of claims by politicians, but some analysts say the ban ends up helping incumbents and well-financed candidates.

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