Tag: Sophistication

The company, which said it is in the early stages of its investigation, held briefings in the House and Senate this week. The company said it doesn't know who is behind the efforts, but said there may be connections to Russia. Facebook said it has found some connections between the accounts it removed and the accounts connected to Russia's Internet Research Agency that it removed before and after the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. “Today’s disclosure is further evidence that the Kremlin continues to exploit platforms like Facebook to sow division and spread disinformation, and I am glad that Facebook is taking some steps to pinpoint and address this activity," Warner said in a statement to Fox News. There is still much that needs to be done to prevent and counter foreign interference on social media." Facebook says more than 290,000 accounts followed at least one of the fake pages. Facebook says the pages ran about 150 ads for $11,000 on Facebook and Instagram, paid for in U.S. and Canadian dollars. That group was created by Russian government figures but had been dormant since Facebook disabled its administrators last year. However, the tech company chose to remove the group to protect the privacy of its members in advance of a forthcoming report from the Atlantic Council that will analyze the Pages, profiles and accounts that Facebook disabled today. Miller continued: “We will not be safe from foreign interference -- and Facebook’s own business model of profiting off of bad actors -- until Congress and the FTC step in to break up the company and impose strong privacy rules.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.