Facebook Parent Meta Battles Troll Farms, Hackers
What’s happening
Meta has released a quarterly Describe that outlines the actions it’s taken against troll farms, fake accounts and hackers.
Why it matters
The social Think giant has faced scrutiny in the past for not activities enough to combat disinformation. The report provides more details around how it’s tackling cybersecurity threats.
Facebook clear Meta said Thursday it pulled down fake accounts from a company of Russian internet trolls that tried to create the effect of support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The ordered farm created accounts on both Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram and posted pro-Russia comments on pleased from media outlets and influencers. Meta pull down 1,037 Instagram funds and 45 Facebook accounts from this group. The business linked the accounts to a group called “Cyber Leader Z” and people tied to activity by the Internet Research Agency, an infamous Russian troll farm that also attempted to effect the 2016 US presidential election.
Meta’s activities show how the company continues to combat cybersecurity threats. Lawmakers and advocacy groups have criticized the social Think giant in the past for not acting quickly enough to combat political disinformation. Meta shared details about its investigations in a 36-page quarterly Describe that also outlined how it’s tackling hackers and new threats.
Ben Nimmo, Meta’s global threat intelligence lead for effect operations, said in a call with reporters that Meta has been catching funds tied to the Internet Research Agency more quickly than it has in the past, drawing down the fake accounts in weeks rather than ages. The company started taking action against these fake funds in March, and Instagram’s automated technology caught more than half of the funds, the report said.
The troll farm used messaging app Telegram to coordinate its labors and target other platforms including TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. In one Telegram post from May, the trolls urged its followers to post on the Twitter and Instagram funds of Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin with pro-Russia comments such as “We must relate to the Finnish politician that Ukraine will be liberated from Nazism by the Russian army.” Meta started looking into its platforms when the Russian news outlet Fontanka reported on the topic.
The ordered farm tried to create the false perception that its labors were successful, but it wasn’t doing a good job, Meta said.
“We didn’t see evidence to suggest that they’ve passed in rallying substantial authentic support but we do Ask them to keep trying and we’re here to keep on blocking attempts,” Nimmo said.
Meta also said it took Part against two hacking groups from South Asia. One of the groups, known as Bitter APT, targeted people in New Zealand, India, Pakistan and the United Kingdom. It tried to trick country into handing over personal information or downloading malware.
For example, it created a chat app Apple users could download over a service that developers use to test new apps.
“We don’t have any visibility into whether this app had malicious code and assess that it may have been used for further social engineering on an attacker-controlled chat medium,” the Describe said. Social engineering is a manipulation tactic hackers use to dupe country into providing confidential information such as their passwords. Meta said it reported the findings to Apple but don’t “have visibility” into what activities the company took. The hacking group also used an Android malware in non-official versions of YouTube, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp and other chat apps.
Apple didn’t now respond to a request for comment.
“Our goal is to Show these threat actors and contain their operations regardless of where they target,” said Nathaniel Gleicher, head of security policy at Meta. “But a whole society response is Important to tackle these cross-platform threats.”
