Small Wars Journal

Russian Disinformation on Facebook Targeted Ukraine Well Before the 2016 U.S. Election

Mon, 10/29/2018 - 12:39am

Russian Disinformation on Facebook Targeted Ukraine Well Before the 2016 U.S. Election by Dana Priest, James Jacoby and Anya Bourg - Frontline PBS / Washington Post

… Facebook has launched major reforms to its platform and processes since the 2016 U.S. presidential election made the company — and American users of Facebook — aware of how Russian actors were abusing it to influence politics far beyond their borders. But Ukraine’s warnings two years earlier show how the social media giant has been blind to the misuse of Facebook, in particular in places where it is hugely popular but has no on-the-ground presence. There is still no Facebook office in Ukraine.

Facebook officials defend their response to Ukrainian officials. They said Shymkiv did not raise the issue of Russian misinformation and other tactics in the meeting but that he talked instead about the company’s standards for removing content. They also said what they were alerted to in Ukraine was not a preview of what happened in the United States during the 2016 election.

Activists, officials and journalists from countries including Ukraine, the Philippines and Myanmar who reported abuses say Facebook took little or no action, according to an investigation for the documentary “The Facebook Dilemma,” airing Monday and Tuesday as part of the PBS series “Frontline.” It was not until after evidence that fake accounts from Russia were used to influence the 2016 U.S. election that the company acted, some said. This article is based on reporting done for the film…

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