#Facebook shuts down accounts linked to Russian meddling in 2016 election: report

Facebook has shut down a network of phony accounts and pages it says are tied to the Russian “troll farm” that meddled in the 2016 presidential election, according to reports Tuesday.

The disinformation operation targeted liberal readers and involved a fake news website with articles written by American journalists, the Washington Post said.

It was spearheaded by the Kremlin-basked Internet Research Agency (IRA) and is the first sign that Moscow is trying to hurt President Trump’s Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, ahead of the November election, according to the New York Times.

Facebook reportedly said it took action after getting tipped off by the FBI that its social-media platform had been compromised.

Facebook said it shut down 13 fake accounts and two pages that had a combined 14,000 followers, the Post said. The move came before the operation could generate an audience as large as the IRA amassed through its 2016 efforts, the Times said.

The related website, peacedata.net, purports to be the work of a “global news organization” that claims to “cover stories that are usually untold or kept hidden from the general public.”

A report on the Russian operation by Graphika, a network analysis firm that was given the Facebook data, said it sought to influence disaffected Democrats, as well as democratic socialists and environmentalists, the Washington Post said.

“The English-language content on Biden and [running mate Kamala] Harris was noteworthy for its hostile tone,” according to a Graphika report.

“One article by a guest writer accused the pair of ‘submission to right-wing populism…as much about preserving careers as it is winning votes.’”

In addition to shutting down the Russian operation, Facebook took down a disinformation network that the company said was primarily targeting users in Latin America.

That network was associated with a US public relations company, CLS Strategies, which didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment, the Washington Post said.