Meta takes down Russian disinformation posing as news orgs

In brief

Meta announced it has taken down a large disinformation network originating in Russia that was impersonating news organizations, including The Guardian, Der Spiegel, and Bild, to promote pro-Russia narratives regarding the war in Ukraine.

The Facebook parent group said impersonators would post and promote articles and memes that criticized Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees, supported Russia, and argued that Western sanctions on Russia would backfire.

Posts were promoted not just on Meta’s social networks of Facebook and Instagram, but also on YouTube, Telegram, Twitter, petitions websites Change.org and Avaaz, and LiveJournal.

Ben Nimmo, global threat intelligence lead and David Agranovich, director, Threat Disruption, called it “the largest and most complex Russian-origin operation that we’ve disrupted since the beginning of the war in Ukraine”.

Separately, Meta also stated it had taken down a Chinese-backed campaign that targeted domestic US citizens focusing on the upcoming midterm elections.