Ahead of the 2018-midterm elections Tuesday, Facebook has blocked 115 accounts on its platforms due to alleged “inauthentic behavior.” The social media network made the announcement in a statement Monday evening, claiming it blocked 30 accounts on its namesake platform and 85 more on Instagram. Authorities believe the accounts are linked to foreign entities tying to interfere with the closely watched U.S. elections.
The social media giant said U.S. law enforcement flagged the accounts on Sunday, citing “online activity that they recently discovered and which they believe may be linked to foreign entities,” according to the statement.
Facebook also launched an immediate investigation after blocking the accounts on both its platforms.
“Given that we are only one day away from important elections in the U.S., we wanted to let people know about the action we’ve taken and the facts as we know them today,” the company said in a blog post.
Nearly all of the blocked Facebook pages appeared to be written in French or Russian, while the Instagram accounts were mostly in English. However, the company noted that some of the Instagram accounts focused on celebrities and political debate.
Facebook will continue to provide updates on the situation, including whether the accounts are linked to the Russian-based Internet Research Agency, once more information is gathered.
By: Maytinee Kramer
