Facebook removes Russian-backed accounts working against Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Facebook said on Thursday, September 24 that it had removed several hundred fake accounts linked to Russian military intelligence and other Kremlin-backed actors involved in previous efforts to interfere in the politics of several countries, including Armenia.

The largest network in the latest removal, which spanned 301 groups, pages and accounts, was linked to Russian military intelligence services, Facebook said. U.S. prosecutors have accused military intelligence of being behind Russia's alleged 2016 election interference.

"We removed 214 Facebook users, 35 Pages, 18 Groups and 34 Instagram accounts for violating our policy against foreign or government interference which is coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign or government entity," the company said.

This activity originated in Russia and focused primarily on Syria and Ukraine, and to a lesser extent on Turkey, Japan, Armenia, Georgia, Belarus, and Moldova A small portion of this activity focused on the UK and the U.S.

The people behind this campaign posted in many languages including English, Ukrainian, Russian and Arabic as they tailored their activity to each audience. They frequently posted about news and current events, including the Syrian civil war, Turkish domestic politics, geopolitical issues in the Asia-Pacific region, NATO, the war in Ukraine, and politics in the Baltics, Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and the US.