SOCIAL MEDIA
SOCIAL MEDIA

Russian-linked Facebook content: How to check if you were duped

Facebook is letting users check if they liked or followed a Facebook page or Instagram account created by Russian entity the Internet Research Agency. (Dreamstime/TNS)
Facebook is letting users check if they liked or followed a Facebook page or Instagram account created by Russian entity the Internet Research Agency. (Dreamstime/TNS)
By Queenie Wong
Updated Feb 1, 2018

Facebook revealed in September that about 470 fake accounts and pages tied to a Russian entity ran roughly 3,000 ads in the United States between 2015 and 2017.

Now the tech firm is letting users check if they liked or followed a Facebook page or Instagram account created by that Russian entity — the Internet Research Agency.

A link to the tool, which is currently only available on desktop, is included in the Help Center of the social media site.

Most of the ads didn’t reference the 2016 U.S. presidential election or a particular candidate, but focused on divisive issues such as immigration and gun rights.

Like other tech firms, Facebook has been grappling with how the tools they created might be harming democracy.

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Queenie Wong
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