The daily business briefing: August 22, 2018

Facebook blocks political influence campaigns from Russia and Iran, the S&P 500 bull market sets a record, and more

Mark Zuckerberg in France
(Image credit: LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images)

1. Facebook blocks political influence campaigns linked to Russia, Iran

Facebook said on Tuesday that it had uncovered several new efforts to mislead users. The social network said it had taken down 652 fake accounts, pages, and groups that were spreading misinformation. Facebook said the new activity was far more extensive than another influence campaign it revealed last month, and that the efforts originated in Iran and Russia and were aimed at people in Latin America, the U.K., the Middle East, and the U.S. "We believe these pages, groups, and accounts were part of two sets of campaigns," said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "One from Iran, with ties to state owned media. The other came from a set of people the U.S. government and others have linked to Russia."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.