Thirty accounts have been removed from Facebook and 85 have been removed from Instagram for suspicious, coordinated activity in French, English, and Russian, Facebook announced in a blog post. Law enforcement agencies warned Facebook on Sunday about the possible activity by foreign actors seeking to influence Tuesday's midterm elections. Some of the posts concerned celebrities. Others focused on politics.
Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy, said in the blog post that Facebook typically waits until it knows more before making such announcements, but it "wanted to let people know" because it was the eve of the midterms. It was not immediately clear who was behind the activity, but federal law enforcement officials said "foreign actors," particularly Russia, continue to try to influence the public as they did in 2016, USA Today reports.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
-
George Floyd: Did Black Lives Matter fail?Feature The momentum for change fades as the Black Lives Matter Plaza is scrubbed clean
-
National debt: Why Congress no longer caresFeature Rising interest rates, tariffs and Trump's 'big, beautiful' bill could sent the national debt soaring
-
Why are military experts so interested in Ukraine's drone attack?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The Zelenskyy government's massive surprise assault on Russian airfields was a decisive tactical victory — could it also be the start of a new era in autonomous warfare?
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress codespeed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirementspeed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff displaySpeed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
Markets notch worst quarter in years as new tariffs loomSpeed Read The S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 as investors brace for Trump's tariffs
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panelsSpeed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off
-
Crafting emporium Joann is going out of businessSpeed Read The 82-year-old fabric and crafts store will be closing all 800 of its stores
-
Trump's China tariffs start after Canada, Mexico pausesSpeed Read The president paused his tariffs on America's closest neighbors after speaking to their leaders, but his import tax on Chinese goods has taken effect
