Facebook and Twitter remove disinformation and hacking campaigns targeting Ukraine

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/28/ [login to see] /facebook-uncovers-disinformation-and-hacking-campaigns-targeting-ukraine
Facebook parent company Meta says it has uncovered Russian efforts to undermine trust in the Ukrainian government and a separate attempt to hack Ukrainian military officials and journalists using its platform.

"There's been a lot of speculation and interest on whether there are covert influence operations targeting public debate in Ukraine and to what degree we're seeing cyber hacking groups targeting individuals in Ukraine," said Nathaniel Gleicher, Meta's head of security policy. "This is a case where we're seeing both of those things."

Meta says it alerted other social media companies to its findings. Twitter said on Monday that it also has removed accounts involved in the campaigns.

Meta described the two campaigns on Facebook as small in scale and caught in the early stages. The first campaign involved a network of about 40 accounts, pages and groups on Facebook and Instagram, operated in Russia and Ukraine. They used fake personas, including computer-generated profile pictures, to masquerade as independent news outlets and posted claims about Ukraine being a failed state.