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International

Facebook to create website for tracking Russian propaganda

14:25, Thursday, 23 November, 2017
Facebook to create website for tracking Russian propaganda

Facebook said Wednesday that it would build a web page to allow users to see which Russian propaganda accounts they have liked or followed. This was decided after U.S. lawmakers demanded that social network be more open about the accounts ‘reach. This was reported by the Voice of America.

Facebook, Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Twitter Inc. are facing a backlash after saying Russians used their services to anonymously spread divisive messages among Americans in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. elections.

U.S. lawmakers have criticized the tech firms for not doing more to detect the alleged election meddling, which the Russian government denies involvement in.

Facebook says the propaganda came from the Internet Research Agency, a Russian organization that according to lawmakers and researchers employs hundreds of people to push pro-Kremlin content under phony social media accounts.

Related: Posts produced in Russia reach 126 million Facebook users in US
     As many as 126 million people could have been served posts on Facebook and 20 million on Instagram, the company says. Facebook has since deactivated the accounts.

Facebook, in a statement, said it would let people see which pages or accounts they liked or followed between January 2015 and August 2017 that were affiliated with the Internet Research Agency.

As it was reported earlier the Russian propaganda of state media and falsification of facts by the Kremlin has instigated hatred of Ukraine by Russians and intensifies the conflict. The international community must react to this threat, Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN Oleh Nikolenko said in a meeting of the fourth committee of the UNGA.

He also emphasized that the Russian power has significantly restricted the activity of independent media, and intensified control over the state-owned ones, turning them into powerful tools of government propaganda spreading fake news.

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