Facebook and Twitter, two of the most prominent global social media platforms, are at the center of attention. Just yesterday, the two of them purged accounts and pages linked to a suspicious media website.
According to information received from the companies, the website, called Peace Data, is conducting #misleading campaigns, which seem to be controlled by people associated with the Russian Internet Agency (IRA). IRA is the same one responsible for efforts to influence the 2016 US #presidential #elections. The misleading campaign is looking to push voters away from the Democratic candidate, Joseph Biden, praising the current US president, Donald Trump.
Multiple fake accounts related to the website are responsible for creating detailed personas, managing pages, and posting. The Kremlin-backed group, Peace Data, presents itself as an independent news channel based primarily in Romania. People behind it tried to obtain authorization to run ads in the US.
Until now, Facebook managed to remove 13 accounts and two pages operated by Peace Data. At the same time, Twitter suspended five accounts. Both companies are working alongside FBI, and almost 200 people that have been messaged by the network are now in contact with the authorities.
Following the news, Facebook stock price gained 0.76%, while Twitter traded 1.4% higher.
Read more about what Twitter went through by clicking here!
Sources: thestreet.com, bbc.com, nytimes.com