'Russian influence campaign targeted left-wing voters in US & Britain': Facebook

Facebook on Tuesday said a Russian influence operation posed as an independent news outlet to target left-wing voters in the United States and Britain. The Russian agency also recruited freelance journalists to write about domestic politics of the two countries, Facebook added.

Facebook Inc (FB.O) revealed that the operation centered around a pseudo media organisation called 'Peace Data', which partly focused on United states politics and racial tensions in the upcoming November 3 Presidential election. The Russian website operated 13 Facebook accounts and two pages, which were set up in May and suspended on Monday for using fake identities and other forms of coordinated inauthentic behaviour, Facebook said.

READ | No one can be allowed to interfere in our nation's affairs: Rahul on allegations against Facebook

During the investigation Facebook found links to individuals associated with past activity by the 'Russian Internet Research Agency'-a St Petersburg-based company which U.S. intelligence officials said was central to Russian efforts to sway the 2016 presidential election.

Peace Data targets left-wing groups in the US and Britain

'Graphika'- social media analytics firm investigated the operation and said Peace Data predominately targeted progressive and left-wing groups in the United States and Britain. The russian agency also posted about events in other countries including Algeria and Egypt.

Graphika further said that the website pushed messages critical of right-wing voices and the centre left, and in the United States 'paid particular attention to racial and political tensions'. The messaged also included civil rights protests and criticism of President Donald Trump and his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.

The investigating firm further disclosed that only around 5 percent of Peace Data’s English-language articles directly concerned the U.S. election. And the main aspect of the operation suggests an attempt to build a left-wing audience and steer it away from Biden’s campaign, Graphika added.

The United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence referred questions to the FBI. In a statement, the FBI said it had flagged the activity to Facebook. The FBI provided information in this matter to better protect against threats to the nation’s security and our democratic processes, the statement said.

READ | 'Ugly nexus exposed': Congress reiterates 'BJP-Facebook link' claim, demands JPC probe

FBI provides information to Facebook

Facebook team immediately acted upon the FBI's tip and suspended the accounts before they gathered a large online following, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, Nathaniel Gleicher said. He further said only 14,000 people followed one or more of the suspended accounts.

Peace Data publishes in English and Arabic and claims on its website that it is a non-profit news organisation seeking the truth about key world events. According to the Graphika analysis, the three permanent staff listed online are fake. They found the profiles used are computer-generated photographs of non-existent people and were linked to fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and other sites.

The staff at Peace Data shared articles that covered a wide range of political issues, in left-wing social media groups and the website published over 700 articles in English and Arabic between February and August this year, Graphika said.

U.S has previously alleged that Russia tried to sway election campaigns however it denied the allegation and maintained that it doesn't  interfere in the domestic politics of other countries.

READ | Facebook improving its ability to detect, remove hate speech ahead of Myanmar election

READ | Facebook threatens Australia of 'reluctantly stopping' publishers from posting news