(San Francisco) Pro-Russian groups are orchestrating various disinformation campaigns on social media using fake profiles or hacked accounts to portray Ukraine as a mere pawn in Western hands, US parent group Meta said on Sunday. from Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp.
Posted at 9:49
The cybersecurity team closed a series of fake accounts linked to Russia and blocked the sharing of internet addresses linking to sites spreading false information, said David Agranovich, director of the threat management team at Facebook.
“They operated websites posing as independent news entities and created fake profiles on social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Telegram and also Russian (networks) Odnoklassniki and VK according to a Meta blog post.
In some cases, “they used profile photos that we believe were generated using artificial intelligence techniques,” the group adds.
The small network of fake Facebook and Instagram accounts targeted residents of Ukraine and its posts sought to lure people to websites spreading false information about that country’s efforts to defend itself against the Russian invasion.
Meta said it linked the network to people in Russia and Ukraine, as well as organizations like NewsFront and SouthFront in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.
According to the United States, NewsFront and SouthFront are disinformation outlets that take orders from Russian intelligence services. These organizations are among more than a dozen entities sanctioned by Washington for trying to influence the 2020 US presidential election, “under the direction of officials” from Russia.
“Ghostwriter”
Among the false claims published by the sites are those that the West has betrayed Ukraine or that Ukraine is a failed state, according to Agranovich.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine launched last Thursday was the occasion for an outbreak of fake news on the internet, in particular on social networks, a phenomenon that has become recurrent with each outbreak of war or conflict.
Over the past few days, a group of hackers called Ghostwriter, which appears to be operating out of Russia, have stepped up their actions against military figures and journalists in Ukraine, Meta’s security team added.
Ghostwriter notably uses the technique of phishing (phishing) to encourage its victims to click on links leading to malicious sites hosting harmful software to steal their passwords.
The goal appeared to be to take over Facebook accounts to disseminate disinformation links, such as a YouTube video falsely claiming to show Ukrainian soldiers surrendering to Russian soldiers, according to Meta.
“We have taken steps to secure the accounts that we believe are targeted by the threat from this actor,” said Nathaniel Gleicher, head of Facebook’s security policy. “We also blocked phishing domains that these hackers were using to try to trick people in Ukraine.”
On Friday, Facebook announced that it had banned Russian state media from making money on its platform by running ads or monetizing content.
According to Mr. Gleicher, Meta is not yet experiencing restrictions on Facebook in Russia despite the threats. On Friday, Meta said Russia had decided to “limit access” and “slow down” the operation of Facebook after the platform refused to stop fact-checking and flagging content posted by four state-controlled outlets. Russian state.