Ukraine warned Facebook about Russia's misinformation campaigns back in 2015

Facebook.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Nearly two years before Russian dissemination of fake news played a role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the Ukrainian government warned Facebook and U.S. government officials that Russia used "aggressive behavior" to spread disinformation on social media platforms.

Dmytro Shymkiv, the head of Ukraine's presidential administration, told the Financial Times: "We shared with them some of our concerns that the problem of fake news spreading and the influence of behavior is very worrying ... I think Facebook was warned about what might happen with respect to the situation that unfolded in the U.S. ... Their response was: 'We are an open platform, we allow everybody the possibility to communicate.'"

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Kelly O'Meara Morales

Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.