115 Facebook, Instagram Accounts Blocked For ‘Inauthentic Behavior’ Day Before Midterm Elections

Prior to the midterm elections, Facebook, Inc. announced late Monday it identified “coordinated inauthentic behavior” and blocked 115 Facebook and Instagram accounts after United States law-enforcement officials warned about online activity that might be linked to foreign entities.

In an attempt to combat misinformation campaigns, the social media network said it found and blocked 30 Facebook accounts and 85 Instagram profiles.

“As part of our efforts to prevent interference on Facebook during elections, we are in regular contact with law enforcement, outside experts and other companies around the world,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Head of Cybersecurity Policy, said in a statement released Monday night.

He added the partnership already helped the company remove several “bad actors from Facebook on many occasions in the last year,” the latest being blocking 82 pages, groups and accounts linked to Iran on Oct. 26.

“On Sunday evening, US law enforcement contacted us about online activity that they recently discovered and which they believe may be linked to foreign entities,” Gleicher said. “Our very early-stage investigation has so far identified around 30 Facebook accounts and 85 Instagram accounts that may be engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior. We immediately blocked these accounts and are now investigating them in more detail.”

The disclosure, which came more than a year after the company revealed Russian state actors used Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms to meddle in the 2016 presidential race, claimed foreign entities were still using the social media platforms and trying to shape U.S. politics.

Last year, Facebook revealed the Russian-created posts reached about 146 million people on Facebook and 20 million people on Instagram. However, Russia had denied any interference in the 2016 U.S. elections.

According to the statement, almost all the Facebook Pages, which were associated with the blocked accounts, were in either French or Russian. The Instagram accounts were mostly in English. Some of the accounts were mostly focused on celebrities and other political debates.

Facebook said it couldn’t give out more details regarding the incident but still went ahead with announcing the investigation a day away from the midterm elections.

“… we wanted to let people know about the action we’ve taken and the facts as we know them today,” Gleicher said. “Once we know more — including whether these accounts are linked to the Russia-based Internet Research Agency or other foreign entities — we will update this post.”

The announcement by Facebook came shortly after a joint statement from senior government officials, including the chiefs of the FBI and DHS. The statement detailed government efforts to prevent election interference.

“At this time we have no indication of compromise of our nation’s election infrastructure that would prevent voting, change vote counts, or disrupt the ability to tally votes,” the statement said adding “Americans should be aware that foreign actors—and Russia in particular—continue to try to influence public sentiment and voter perceptions through actions intended to sow discord.”

The Wall Street Journal reported a Facebook spokesman declined to comment on whether the blocked accounts were trying to meddle with the midterm elections.