Facebook Removes Thousands of Fake Accounts Ahead of Global Elections

The social network has suspended more than 2,800 accounts and pages from 11 countries, including Morocco, Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on its main platform and photo-sharing site Instagram, for using fake identities and other forms of "inauthentic coordinated behavior".

In most of these countries, the networks were focused on upcoming elections and led by domestic groups, Facebook said. "Deceptive campaigns like these raise a complex challenge in blurring the line between healthy public debate and manipulation," it added in a blog post.

Three of the networks announced on Tuesday were first revealed last month. Used by rival French and Russian groups, these networks disseminated competing narratives in the Central African Republic ahead of the country’s legislative elections.