Facebook Removes Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior From Platform

Ahead of the 2020 United States presidential election, social media giant Facebook has released new election security features.

The company has removed four networks of “coordinated inauthentic behavior” tied to Russia and Iran from its services.

Facebook said it had removed three networks of fake accounts and pages tied to Iran and another network with links to Russia’s Internet Research Agency.

It was Russia’s Internet Research Agency that was accused of using Facebook and other websites to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

“We took down these networks based on their behavior, not the content they posted,” Facebook wrote. “In each case, the people behind this activity coordinated with one another and used fake accounts to misrepresent themselves, and that was the basis for our action.”

135 accounts that originated in Iran had been removed. Facebook also removed 50 Instagram accounts and one Facebook account that originated in Russia. These accounts published content aimed at U.S. users.

“The people behind this operation often posted on both sides of political issues including topics like US elections, environmental issues, racial tensions, LGBTQ issues, political candidates, confederate ideas, conservatism and liberalism,” Facebook wrote. “They also maintained accounts presenting themselves as local in some swing states, and posed as either conservatives or progressives.”

The company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, “We do see today Russia and Iran and China increasingly with more sophisticated tactics are trying to interfere in elections,” Zuckerberg said in the interview. “But part of why I’m confident going into 2020 is that we’ve played a role in defending against interference in every major election around the world since 2016, in France, in Germany, in the E.U. overall, in India, in Mexico, in Brazil.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in Facebook, Inc. Common Stock (NASDAQ: FB) and have not been compensated for this article.