Facebook and Twitter removed two anti-Ukrainian “covert influence operations” over the weekend, one tied to Russia and another with connections to Belarus, the
Highlights
- Facebook and Twitter removed two anti-Ukrainian “covert influence operations” over the weekend.
- One of the operations was an offshoot of a known Russian disinformation operation.
- The other campaign used hacked accounts to push similar anti-Ukraine propaganda and was tied to a known Belarusian hacking group.
- Disinformation experts warned that Russia is expected to continue to try to manipulate narratives about Ukraine.
- The announcement also demonstrates that Russia continues to use disinformation strategies first identified years ago around the 2016 election, albeit with some advancements — most notably the use of software that can create realistic and original human faces, experts say.
- Facebook said it took down 40 profiles tied to the disinformation operation, saying the profiles were small part of a larger persona-building operation.