Facebook says it has removed hundreds of Russia-linked pages, groups and accounts it says were part of two big disinformation operations, in its latest effort to fight fake news.
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The social media company says it took action after finding two networks that engaged in "co-ordinated inauthentic behaviour" on its Facebook and Instagram platforms.
Facebook head of cybersecurity policy Nathaniel Gleicher said in a blog post on Thursday that one network operated in central and eastern European counties, the Baltics, central Asia and the Caucasus.
The other focused on Ukraine.
The people running the accounts represented themselves as independent news sources and posted on topics like anti-NATO sentiment and protest movements.
"We didn't find any links between these operations, but they used similar tactics by creating networks of accounts to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing," Gleicher said.
Gleicher said one network of 364 pages and accounts was linked to employees of Sputnik, a Russian state-run English-language news site.
About 790,000 accounts followed one or more of the network's pages.
The operation spent about $US135,000 ($A188,480) over six years for Facebook advertisements, which it paid for in euros, rubles and dollars. The most recent ad ran in January.
Sputnik criticised Facebook's takedown.
"The decision is clearly political. This is tantamount to censorship," it said in a statement to the Associated Press.
Sputnik adding that Facebook blocked the accounts of seven of its bureaus in former Soviet republics.
"Sputnik editorial offices deal with news and they do it well," the statement said.
"If this blocking is Facebook's only reaction to the quality of the media's work, then we have no questions, everything is clear here. But there is still hope that common sense will prevail."
Acting on a tip from US law enforcement, Facebook shut another 148 pages, groups and accounts, including 41 on Instagram.
They were part of a second network that spent $US25,000 ($A188,480) on ads in 2018, paid for in rubles.
Gleicher said Facebook identified some "technical overlap" with Russia-based activity seen prior to the US midterm elections.
Australian Associated Press