Moscow. August 10. INTERFAX.RU – Facebook on Tuesday said it had removed more than 300 accounts registered in Russia that the company claims were linked to the spread of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, Western media reported.
According to them, Facebook indicated that it had blocked accounts associated with Fazze, a subsidiary of the UK-registered firm AdNow, which conducted operations from Russia. This decision was made on the social network in connection with a violation of its policy against foreign interference. As noted, the company Facebook, in particular, has deleted 65 accounts on the social network Facebook and 243 accounts on Instagram.
Facebook said Fazze has used the platform to target audiences in India, Latin America and, to a lesser extent, the United States. During the investigation, Facebook experts found that as part of a disinformation campaign, Fazze created articles and petitions on forums such as Reddit, Medium and Change.org. To distribute content, the company used fake accounts on Facebook and Instagram.
According to media reports, Fazze also contacted bloggers from around the world via YouTube, Instagram and TikTok and asked them to distribute anti-vaccine content for a fee. However, bloggers in France and Germany reported earlier this year that the campaign was under way, after which an investigation was initiated against the firm. Media outlets note that the campaign was largely unsuccessful, but some of the posts received “limited attention”. The operation reportedly began with the creation of a network of fake accounts in 2020.
In addition, Facebook reported that in July it removed a network of accounts in Myanmar associated with the country's military.
Earlier this year, Washington said that a number of countries, including Russia, were engaged in disinformation on the topic of vaccines against the COVID-19 coronavirus and expressed concern in this regard.
