Facebook removes more accounts linked to 'coordinated inauthentic behavior' in Russia

Facebook has unfriended more fraudulent accounts tied to Russia.

The social media giant, in a blog post credited to Nathaniel Gleicher, head of cybersecurity policy, said today that it's removed "multiple Pages, groups and accounts that engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram."

The two operations discovered by Facebook originated in Russia. One was active in multiple countries, the other specific to Ukraine and "we didn't find any links between these operations, but they used similar tactics by creating networks of accounts to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing," Facebook said.

"We're taking down these Pages and accounts based on their behavior, not the content they post," the Menlo Park, California-based company added. "In these cases, the people behind this activity coordinated with one another and used fake accounts to misrepresent themselves, and that was the basis for our action."

No additional details were provided in the blog post.

Exactly a year ago, Facebook, in a similar blog post attributed to Gleicher, announced it had removed 364 Pages and accounts for "inauthentic behavior." A similar announcement was made last August.

Fighting such misinformation, according to Facebook, is "an ongoing challenge because the people responsible are determined and well funded."

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the seventh-richest person on Earth, with an estimated net worth of more than $58 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.