Meta identified more than 60 fake accounts of well-known publications that spread Russian propaganda

The company Meta, which owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram, discovered more than 60 accounts that pretended to be accounts of well-known publications and spread Russian propaganda.

The Associated Press writes about it.

It is about more than 60 websites created to imitate news sites, such as The Guardian in Great Britain, or the German Der Spiegel. However, instead of the real news reported by these media, the fake sites contained links to Russian propaganda and disinformation about Ukraine. More than 1,600 fake Facebook accounts were used to spread this propaganda to audiences in Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain and Ukraine.

The fake social media accounts were then used to share links to fake news and other pro-Russian posts and videos on Facebook and Instagram, as well as platforms including Telegram and Twitter.

"Several times such content has filled the official pages of Russian embassies in Europe and Asia," said Metaʼs director of threat prevention, David Agranovich. According to him, this was the largest and most complex operation of Russian propaganda, which the Meta company managed to disrupt since the beginning of Russiaʼs war against Ukraine.

The networkʼs activities were first noticed by investigative journalists in Germany. When Meta began investigating, it found that Facebookʼs automated systems had already removed many of the fake accounts. The researchers said they could not directly link the network of fake accounts to the Russian government, but Agranovich noted the role of Russian diplomats.