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Facebook, Twitter Suspend Russian-Linked Operation Targeting African Americans on Social Media


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A collection of Instagram posts yanked off Instagram in October after concluding they originated from Russia.

Facebook and Twitter have disabled a sophisticated Russian-linked operation designed to stoke racial tensions among African Americans in the U.S.

Credit: Jon Elswick/AP

Facebook and Twitter suspended a Russian-linked campaign designed to inflame racial tensions among African Americans in the U.S.

The operation combined bogus accounts and actual residents of Ghana and Nigeria, apparently deceived into thinking they were serving a nongovernmental organization by promoting inauthentic accounts, pages, and groups on the social media platforms.

Twitter's Yoel Roth said the platform caught the campaign before it could generate a wide-scale following.

The two social networks said the operation was found to be related to some of the same Russian actors that employed similar tactics four years ago to spread falsehoods during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaigns.

From The Washington Post
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Abstracts Copyright © 2020 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA


 

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