Meta Uncovers 20 Covert Operations, Naming Russia as the Leading Source

Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has uncovered and taken down around 20 new covert influence operations across various regions worldwide, with Russia remaining the leading source of adversarial online activity.

This was stated in a recent article by The Guardian.

The company’s security experts have been addressing new operations involving fake accounts aimed at manipulating public discourse for strategic purposes. These cases of "coordinated inauthentic behavior" included a Russian network that used dozens of Facebook accounts and fabricated news websites to target audiences in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

“Russia remains the No 1 source of the covert influence operations we’ve disrupted to date – with 39 networks disrupted in total since 2017,” said Nick Clegg, President of Global Affairs at Meta. The next biggest sources of foreign interference were Iran and China.

One of the uncovered operations originating in Russia utilized AI to fabricate fake news websites mimicking well-known agencies like Fox News and the Telegraph. The goal was to undermine Western support for Ukraine. Additionally, the operation used fake Francophone news platforms to portray Russia’s actions in Africa positively while criticizing France’s role in the region.

At the end of November, it became known that Russia was planning a series of large-scale cyberattacks targeting the UK, which could potentially leave millions without power.