Facebook deletes hundreds of accounts created to cause 'disruption'

Facebook has deleted hundreds of accounts – more than half of them based in Russia, Iran and Georgia – after discovering they belonged to networks running various influence campaigns.

Facebook announced that the accounts were deleted in April, as part of ongoing efforts to clean its platform of misleading information and fake accounts that are created to cause "social division."

The deleted accounts were also active on Instagram - the app owned by Facebook - and were linked to eight networks, the California-based social media giant said.

According to him, networks in Russia and Iran have focused their content internationally, while two networks in Georgia, two in the US, one in Mauritania and one in Myanmar have operated with domestic audiences.

All of the networks were created before the coronavirus pandemic, but Facebook said some of them then used coronavirus-related posts to build their audiences.

"We know that people who try to deceive others use crises to advance their own goals. And the coronavirus pandemic is no different," Facebook said in a statement.