Creators of fake accounts and news pages on Facebook are learning from their past mistakes and making themselves harder to track and identify, posing new challenges in preventing the platform from being used for political misinformation, cyber security experts say.

This was apparent as Facebook tried to determine who created pages it said were aimed at sowing dissension among U.S. voters ahead of congressional elections in November. The company said on Tuesday it had removed 32 fake pages and accounts from Facebook and Instagram involved in what it called “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”

While the United States improves its efforts to monitor and root out such intrusions, the intruders keep getting better at it, said cyber security experts interviewed over the past two days.

Ben Nimmo, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Digital Forensic Research Lab, said he had noticed the latest pages used less original language, rather cribbing from copy already on the internet.

“Linguistic mistakes would give them away before, between 2014 and 2017,” Nimmo told Reuters. “In some of these newer cases it seems they’ve caught on to that by writing less (original material) when posting things. With their longer posts sometimes it’s just pirated, copy and pasted from some American website. That makes them less suspicious.”

Facebook’s prior announcement on the topic of fake accounts, in April, directly connected a Russian group known as the Internet Research Agency to a myriad of posts, events and propaganda that were placed on Facebook leading up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

This time, Facebook did not identify the source of the misinformation.

“It’s clear that whoever set up these accounts went to much greater lengths to obscure their true identities than the Russian-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) has in the past,” the company said in a blog post, https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/07/removing-bad-actors-on-facebook, on Tuesday, announcing the removal of the pages. “Our technical forensics are insufficient to provide high confidence attribution at this time.”

Facebook said it had shared evidence connected to the latest flagged posts with several private sector partners, including the Digital Forensic Research Lab, an organization founded by the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank.

Facebook also said the use of virtual private networks, internet phone services, and domestic currency to pay for advertisements helped obfuscate the source of the accounts and pages. The perpetrators also used a third party, which Facebook declined to name, to post content.

Facebook declined to comment further, referring back to its blog post.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s top national security aides said on Thursday that Russia is behind “pervasive” attempts to interfere in November’s elections and that they expect attempts by Russia, and others, will continue into the 2020 elections.

They say they are concerned that attempts will be made to foment confusion and anger among various political groups in the United States and cause a distrust of the electoral process.

Two U.S. intelligence officials who requested anonymity told Reuters this week there was insufficient evidence to conclude that Russia was behind the latest Facebook campaign. However, one said “the similarities, aims and methodology relative to the 2016 Russian campaign are quite striking.”

‘PREVIOUS MISTAKES’

Experts who track online disinformation campaigns said the groups who launch such efforts have changed how they post content and create posts.

“These actors are learning from previous mistakes,” said John Kelly, chief executive of social media intelligence firm Graphika, adding they do not use the same internet addresses or pay in foreign currency.

“And as more players in the world learn these dark arts, it’s easier for them to hide among the multiple actors deploying the same playbook,” he said.

Philip Howard, an Oxford University professor of internet studies and director of the Oxford Internet Institute, said that suspicious social media accounts like those taken down this week were once more easily identifiable because they shared the same information from high-profile publications like RT, the Russian English-language news service, or Breitbart News Network.

But now, the content they often share is more diverse and less discernible, coming from lesser known sites, including internet forums that mix political news with other topics, he said.

“The junk news they’re sharing is using better quality images, for example, more believable domains, less-known websites, smaller blogs,” Howard added.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential campaign using tactics including fake Facebook accounts. The Internet Research Agency was one of three Russian companies charged in February by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller with conspiracy to tamper with the 2016 election.

Moscow has denied any election interference.

Facebook Inc. said on Tuesday it had identified a new coordinated political influence campaign to mislead its users and sow dissension among voters ahead of November’s U.S. congressional elections.

It said it had removed 32 pages and accounts from Facebook and Instagram, part of an effort to combat foreign meddling in U.S. elections.

The company stopped short of identifying the source of the misinformation. But members of Congress who had been briefed by Facebook on the matter said the methodology of the influence campaign suggested Russian involvement.

“I can say I think with pretty high confidence I think this is Russian-related,” Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters at the U.S. Capitol.

Two U.S. intelligence officials told Reuters there was not sufficient evidence to conclude that Russia was behind the Facebook campaign, but one noted that “the similarities, aims and methodology relative to the 2016 Russian campaign are quite striking.”

A Russian propaganda arm tried to tamper in the 2016 U.S. election by posting and buying ads on Facebook, according to the company and U.S. intelligence agencies. In February, the U.S. Justice Department indicted 13 Russian nationals, and the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency, for interfering in the 2016 U.S. election.

Moscow has denied involvement.

Facebook has been on the defensive about influence activity on its site and concerns over user privacy tied to long-standing agreements with developers that allowed them access to private user data.

‘ARMS RACE’

The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Research Lab, which was shown the suspended pages ahead of the takedown, said they showed similarities in language and approach to previously fake accounts from the Internet Research Agency, which is known as the “troll factory” because it stirs up public opinion on social media sites.

The lab cited “consistent mistranslation, as well as an overwhelming focus on polarizing issues at the top of any given news cycle.” It said, for example, the posts on the year-old, feminist Resisters page “took a liberal or left-wing stance on issues around gender, race, immigration, and human rights.” Other pages promoted racial pride among minority groups.

The group said the Resisters page was alarming because it was pushing for confrontation at multiple protests, including against “Unite the Right 2,” with a potential for violence.

A man who identified himself as an administrator of Resisters, Washington activist Brendan Orsinger, said on a video call with Reuters that he had been invited to help operate the page by someone he knew only through Facebook messages.

“I definitely had concerns, because people don’t usually invite me to accounts unless they know me,” Orsinger said. “But at the same time, this was an account we could use.”

He said that more than a dozen legitimate activist groups were still supporting the counter-rally and would now have to work harder to reconnect with people who had been following it through the Resisters page.

Orsinger said he was not yet sure that the account that had involved him was Russian, but that if it was, he was concerned about he and fellow activists being infiltrated and influenced.

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, said on a call with reporters that the attempts to manipulate public opinion would likely become more sophisticated to evade Facebook’s scrutiny, calling it an “arms race.”

The White House said the administration was supportive of Facebook’s actions.

“We applaud efforts by our private-sector partners to combat an array of threats that occur in cyberspace, including malign influence,” said Garrett Marquis, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

U.S. President Donald Trump has come under fire for discounting the threat of interference in the congressional elections.

During his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki earlier this month, Trump appeared to state that he believed Russia was no longer trying to influence the U.S. election process.

Trump later amended that, saying he was “very concerned” about Russian interference in the election. On Friday, Trump held a meeting with his national security advisers on election security.

DIVISIVE ISSUES

Facebook identified influence activity around at least two issues, including the counter-protest to the Unite the Right 2 rally set next week in Washington. The other was the #AbolishICE social media campaign aimed at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

In an online post, Facebook said it was disclosing the influence effort now in part because of the rally. A previous event last year in Charlottesville, Virginia, led to violence by white supremacists.

“This kind of behavior is not allowed on Facebook because we don’t want people or organizations creating networks of accounts to mislead others about who they are, or what they’re doing,” the company said.

More than 290,000 accounts followed at least one of the pages and about $11,000 had been spent on about 150 ads, Facebook said. The pages had created about 30 events since May 2017.

Facebook officials on a call with reporters said one known account from Russia’s Internet Research Agency was a co-administrator of one of the fake pages for seven minutes, but the company did not believe that was enough evidence to attribute the campaign to the Russian government.

The company previously said 126 million Americans may have seen Russian-backed political content on Facebook over a two-year period, and that 16 million may have been exposed to Russian information on the Instagram photo-sharing app.

Over the past several months, the company has taken steps meant to reassure U.S. and European lawmakers that further regulation is unnecessary. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg says the company has 20,000 people working to police and protect the site.

Facebook said it had deleted hundreds of offensive posts since a law banning online hate speech came into force in Germany at the start of the year that foresees fines of up to 50 million euros (51.53 million pounds) for failure to comply.

The social network received 1,704 complaints under the law, known in Germany as NetzDG, and removed 262 posts between January and June, Richard Allan, Facebook’s vice president for global policy solutions said in a blog.

“Hate speech is not allowed on Facebook,” Allan said, adding that the network had removed posts that attacked people who were vulnerable for reasons including ethnicity, nationality, religion or sexual orientation.

Complaints covered a range of alleged offences under Germany’s criminal code, including insult, defamation, incitement to hatred and incitement to crime, the report said. Of the posts that were blocked, the largest number was for insult.

Facebook is less popular in Germany than other European countries, with only around two in five internet users logging on each month, according to researchers eMarketer.

That’s in part due to collective memories of hate-filled propaganda that date back to Germany’s 20th century history of Nazi and Communist rule that don’t always sit well with Facebook’s broad view on freedom of speech.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg faced criticism in Germany after saying in a recent interview that Facebook should not delete statements denying that the Holocaust happened – a crime in Germany. He later clarified his remarks.

Facebook has a dedicated team of 65 staff handling complaints under the NetzDG, Allan said, adding that this could be adjusted in line with the number of complaints.

From January to June, Facebook removed a total of around 2.5 million posts that violated its own community standards designed to prevent abusive behaviour on the platform.

“We have taken a very careful look at the German law,” Allan wrote in his blog, which was published in German.

“That’s why we are convinced that the overwhelming majority of content considered hate speech in Germany, would be removed if it were examined to see whether it violates our community standards.”

A lawmaker for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Tankred Schipanski, said the NetzDG law – which requires social platforms to remove offensive posts within 24 hours – was doing the job for which it was intended.

($1 = 0.8579 euros)

Community Organisations Tackling Hate Incidents and Hate Crimes Come Together in France

Three French anti-racism associations said on Sunday they would file legal complaints against social networks Facebook, Twitter and Google’s Youtube for failing to remove “hateful” content posted on their platforms.

French law requires websites to take down racist, homophobic or anti-semitic material and tell authorities about it.

But French Jewish students union UEJF and anti-racism and anti-homophobia campaigners SOS Racisme and SOS Homophobie said the three firms had removed only a fraction of 586 examples of hateful content the anti-racism groups had counted on their platforms between the end of March and May 10.

Twitter removed only four percent, Youtube seven percent and Facebook 34 percent, according to the associations.

“In light of Youtube, Twitter and Facebook’s profits and how little taxes they pay, their refusal to invest in the fight against hate is unacceptable,” UEJF president Sacha Reingewirtz said in a statement.

Germany got Facebook, Google and Twitter to agree in December to delete hate speech from their websites within 24 hours.

The post Facebook, Twitter, Youtube face hate speech complaints in France appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Much has been said about social media platforms though we have seen some significant and positive changes in Twitter and Facebook over the last year.

We have seen a real desire to reach out and to listen to organisations working with communities and in areas such as tackling hate incidents and crimes. Both organisations are making changes and supporting counter-speech and this is to be welcomed. Interestingly, changes are taking place on these platforms much more regularly and which take into account feedback by users.

For example, today, we have learnt that Twitter provides this much needed reporting in facility. The facility allows users to report in multiple tweets, thereby providing greater context on the information and actions of perpetrators of abuse. The greater the context, the more information that can be acted on.

Tell MAMA has been working with Twitter in trying to ensure that the context of hateful and abusive messages are taken into account. We are one of a handful of organisations who have made this case and we are very grateful that Twitter has listened and responded. We are starting to see a strong desire from Facebook and Twitter to make relevant and useful changes to tackle abuse and these steps are warmly welcomed. They will help victims of abuse.

The post Twitter Develops Multiple Reporting of Tweets to Provide Context appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The following video – posted by a Muslim female named Umm Aqsa, once again shows a male questioning why a female chooses to wear the abaya and the Niqab (face veil). The video highlights how a simple trip for shopping turns into a tirade about the identity and clothing of the Muslim female.

We have said before that anti-Muslim bigotry crosses race and religions. In this instance, the perpetrator is a black male and can be seen in the video. We have also listed the comments of Umm Aqsa underneath the video to highlight her thoughts, but we must also add that she subsequently has received lots of positive messages from the public supporting her and this needs to be highlighted. When we highlight such issues, it is important to remember that there are lots of people who reject such bigotry and lots who believe that Muslims are fellow citizens. This is always important to remember.

Comments from the Facebook Page of Umm Aqsa

I can not believe what I had to endure today. Honestly couldn’t believe it. Thank you to the uncle and brother who came in and had a go at the man.

I was minding my own business so I had to pop into the shop down in Shepherds Bush to grab something. As I entered, this guy who I’ve seen around the area decided to call me ‘ batman’ he even sang the theme tune to his little girls and told them to guess if I’m a man or a women. He told his girls that people like me don’t speak English etc.
I tried to hold it all in but I couldn’t after everything he was saying. I told him he is ignorant and that his kids will be ignorant also if he doesn’t change his way and attitude . He kept going on so i decided to record him and he was aware of this. How ironic he called me ISIS
Please keep in mind his daughters are scared and crying! !

The post Video Shows the Bigotry That Women Who Wear The NIqab Have to Face appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The following video – posted by a Muslim female named Umm Aqsa, once again shows a male questioning why a female chooses to wear the abaya and the Niqab (face veil). The video highlights how a simple trip for shopping turns into a tirade about the identity and clothing of the Muslim female.

We have said before that anti-Muslim bigotry crosses race and religions. In this instance, the perpetrator is a black male and can be seen in the video. We have also listed the comments of Umm Aqsa underneath the video to highlight her thoughts, but we must also add that she subsequently has received lots of positive messages from the public supporting her and this needs to be highlighted. When we highlight such issues, it is important to remember that there are lots of people who reject such bigotry and lots who believe that Muslims are fellow citizens. This is always important to remember.

Comments from the Facebook Page of Umm Aqsa

I can not believe what I had to endure today. Honestly couldn’t believe it. Thank you to the uncle and brother who came in and had a go at the man.

I was minding my own business so I had to pop into the shop down in Shepherds Bush to grab something. As I entered, this guy who I’ve seen around the area decided to call me ‘ batman’ he even sang the theme tune to his little girls and told them to guess if I’m a man or a women. He told his girls that people like me don’t speak English etc.
I tried to hold it all in but I couldn’t after everything he was saying. I told him he is ignorant and that his kids will be ignorant also if he doesn’t change his way and attitude . He kept going on so i decided to record him and he was aware of this. How ironic he called me ISIS
Please keep in mind his daughters are scared and crying! !

The post Video Shows the Bigotry That Women Who Wear The NIqab Have to Face appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Our growing presence on Facebook means our work reaches new audiences daily. This growth benefits our service users who may want to contact us about a case. Or appeal to individuals who remain concerned about anti-Muslim hate.

Growth allows for disagreement and a range of opinions. That is welcome. Hate speech is not.

We recently highlighted how Nazi ideology influences some to dehumanise Muslims in Britain. This generated a great deal of discussion. Some, however, ignored the crux of the article to suggest that Muslims are Nazis. Some compared Islam to Nazism. Others posted Holocaust denial and antisemitic hate speech.
Examples included:

‘muslims are new nazi’s’

‘nothing wrong with nazis‘

‘A bit like islam then‘

‘Still no proof that a single person Jew or Gentile was ever gassed by the Germans’

‘Holocaust did happen.. BUT not 6 million that’s a lie it’s been proven wrong’

‘ISIS are exactly like the Jews only apartheid fake state of Israel’

‘The Nazis waffen ss were the most culturally diverse army of its time. Hitlers respect for other races is well documented.’

‘Nice try K****, I can see right through tour lies. The National socialist party had no problems with other races, they wanted to abolish the corrupt Jewry that was ruining Germany’

‘the national socialists (NAZIs) were not racist’

As an organisation, we’ve always prided ourselves on speaking out against all forms of hate. It remains heartening that some individuals challenged this sort of hate speech.

Our dedicated staff cannot always monitor every comment posted on our Facebook. So we ask our supporters to stay vigilant and continue to challenge hate speech and report it when found.

Reporting hate speech to Facebook remains an easy task if you know how to do it. Make us aware of racist comments via email at info@tellmamauk.org or call us in confidence on 0800 456 1226.

Counter-speech can also be a powerful tool when confronting these abusive comments. It only takes a few working together to challenge online hate speech. Whether it’s reporting abuse or correcting willful distortion – your voice matters.

Together we can help counter those who abuse Facebook’s platform to spread hate.

Come join us online in saying #no2h8 as we extend our gratitude to those who made us aware of the above hate speech. The comments have been removed and reported.

The post Help us challenge hate speech on Facebook appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Our growing presence on Facebook means our work reaches new audiences daily. This growth benefits our service users who may want to contact us about a case. Or appeal to individuals who remain concerned about anti-Muslim hate.

Growth allows for disagreement and a range of opinions. That is welcome. Hate speech is not.

We recently highlighted how Nazi ideology influences some to dehumanise Muslims in Britain. This generated a great deal of discussion. Some, however, ignored the crux of the article to suggest that Muslims are Nazis. Some compared Islam to Nazism. Others posted Holocaust denial and antisemitic hate speech.
Examples included:

‘muslims are new nazi’s’

‘nothing wrong with nazis‘

‘A bit like islam then‘

‘Still no proof that a single person Jew or Gentile was ever gassed by the Germans’

‘Holocaust did happen.. BUT not 6 million that’s a lie it’s been proven wrong’

‘ISIS are exactly like the Jews only apartheid fake state of Israel’

‘The Nazis waffen ss were the most culturally diverse army of its time. Hitlers respect for other races is well documented.’

‘Nice try K****, I can see right through tour lies. The National socialist party had no problems with other races, they wanted to abolish the corrupt Jewry that was ruining Germany’

‘the national socialists (NAZIs) were not racist’

As an organisation, we’ve always prided ourselves on speaking out against all forms of hate. It remains heartening that some individuals challenged this sort of hate speech.

Our dedicated staff cannot always monitor every comment posted on our Facebook. So we ask our supporters to stay vigilant and continue to challenge hate speech and report it when found.

Reporting hate speech to Facebook remains an easy task if you know how to do it. Make us aware of racist comments via email at info@tellmamauk.org or call us in confidence on 0800 456 1226.

Counter-speech can also be a powerful tool when confronting these abusive comments. It only takes a few working together to challenge online hate speech. Whether it’s reporting abuse or correcting willful distortion – your voice matters.

Together we can help counter those who abuse Facebook’s platform to spread hate.

Come join us online in saying #no2h8 as we extend our gratitude to those who made us aware of the above hate speech. The comments have been removed and reported.

The post Help us challenge hate speech on Facebook appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Our growing presence on Facebook means our work reaches new audiences daily. This growth benefits our service users who may want to contact us about a case. Or appeal to individuals who remain concerned about anti-Muslim hate.

Growth allows for disagreement and a range of opinions. That is welcome. Hate speech is not.

We recently highlighted how Nazi ideology influences some to dehumanise Muslims in Britain. This generated a great deal of discussion. Some, however, ignored the crux of the article to suggest that Muslims are Nazis. Some compared Islam to Nazism. Others posted Holocaust denial and antisemitic hate speech.
Examples included:

‘muslims are new nazi’s’

‘nothing wrong with nazis‘

‘A bit like islam then‘

‘Still no proof that a single person Jew or Gentile was ever gassed by the Germans’

‘Holocaust did happen.. BUT not 6 million that’s a lie it’s been proven wrong’

‘ISIS are exactly like the Jews only apartheid fake state of Israel’

‘The Nazis waffen ss were the most culturally diverse army of its time. Hitlers respect for other races is well documented.’

‘Nice try K****, I can see right through tour lies. The National socialist party had no problems with other races, they wanted to abolish the corrupt Jewry that was ruining Germany’

‘the national socialists (NAZIs) were not racist’

As an organisation, we’ve always prided ourselves on speaking out against all forms of hate. It remains heartening that some individuals challenged this sort of hate speech.

Our dedicated staff cannot always monitor every comment posted on our Facebook. So we ask our supporters to stay vigilant and continue to challenge hate speech and report it when found.

Reporting hate speech to Facebook remains an easy task if you know how to do it. Make us aware of racist comments via email at info@tellmamauk.org or call us in confidence on 0800 456 1226.

Counter-speech can also be a powerful tool when confronting these abusive comments. It only takes a few working together to challenge online hate speech. Whether it’s reporting abuse or correcting willful distortion – your voice matters.

Together we can help counter those who abuse Facebook’s platform to spread hate.

Come join us online in saying #no2h8 as we extend our gratitude to those who made us aware of the above hate speech. The comments have been removed and reported.

The post Help us challenge hate speech on Facebook appeared first on TELL MAMA.