Security News > 2020 > December > Facebook Closes Disinformation Accounts Linked to French Military
Facebook said Tuesday that it had removed two networks based in Russia and one linked to the French military, accusing them of carrying out interference campaigns in Africa.
Two networks running multiple Facebook accounts were assigned to people associated with the Russian Internet Research Agency, and the third had "Links to individuals associated with French military," the social media platform said.
The French network targeted the Central African Republic and Mali, and, to a lesser extent, Niger, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Cote d'Ivoire and Chad. It involved 84 Facebook accounts, 6 pages, 9 groups and 14 Instagram accounts that violated policy against "Coordinated inauthentic behavior."
Some of the posts, in French and Arabic, were about France's policies in Francophone Africa, claims of Russian interference in CAR elections, supportive comments about the French military and criticism of Russia.
In disrupting the two Russian networks, the social network removed 274 Facebook accounts and 18 Instagram accounts, along with an array of groups and pages.