Facebook takes down Ukraine disinformation network and bans Russian-backed media

Facebook and Instagram have taken down a disinformation network targeting people in Ukraine, as their owner announced it was blocking access to the Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik across the European Union.

The network ran websites posing as independent news entities and created fake personas across social media including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Telegram as well as Odnoklassniki and VK in Russia, Meta added.

The post added that the network had a small presence, with 4,000 Facebook accounts following one or more of its pages and fewer than 500 accounts following one or more of its Instagram accounts.

Fake personas created by the network included Kyiv-based professionals purporting to be news editors, a former aviation engineer and a hydrography expert. The network operated a handful of sites purporting to be independent news organisations, which claimed the west was betraying Kyiv and that Ukraine was a failed state.

Meta said the network had links to another network it disabled in April 2020 that was connected to individuals in Russia, the Donbas region in Ukraine and two media organisations in Crimea that have since been placed under sanctions by the US government.

The post also detailed the use of a Russia and Belarus-linked hacking campaign known as Ghostwriter, in which social media accounts are hacked and used to spread disinformation. Meta said Ukrainian military and public figures had been targeted and there had been attempts to make their Facebook accounts host YouTube videos claiming to show Ukrainian soldiers surrendering.

Clegg said the social media company had received requests from a number of governments and the EU to take further steps in relation to Russian state-controlled media on its platforms.

Reuters contributed reporting