Facebook announced that it has identified a coordinated political influence campaign, with dozens of inauthentic accounts and pages that are believed to be engaging in politcal activity before November’s midterm elections, reports The New York Times.
The company told lawmakers during a series of briefings on Capitol Hill this week that it detected the influence campaign on Facebook and Instagram during its investigations into election interferences. Facebook has been unable to tie the accounts to Russia, whose Internet Research Agency was at the center of an indictment earlier this year for interfering with the 2016 election. However, company officials told Capitol Hill that Russia was possibly involved, reports The Times.
“We’re still in the very early stages of our investigation and don’t have all the facts — including who may be behind this,” the company said in a statement, according to The Times. “But we are sharing what we know today given the connection between these bad actors and protests that are planned in Washington next week.”
The accounts — eight Facebook pages, 17 Facebook profiles and seven Instagram accounts — were discovered two weeks ago. The company is working with the F.B.I. to investigate the activity.
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