Facebook takes down anti-NATO pages linked to Russian news agency Sputnik

[UpInArms]

Source: CNN

Facebook removed hundreds of pages on Thursday it said posed as independent news sites in eastern Europe and elsewhere but were actually run by employees at Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik.

Facebook (FB) said the 364 pages and accounts had almost 800,000 followers and had spent around $135,000 on ads on the platform between October 2013 and this month.

The countries targeted included Romania, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Georgia and Moldova. The pages frequently promoted anti-NATO sentiment and protest movements, Facebook said.

They also promoted almost 200 events. Facebook said it could not confirm if any of the events actually took place.

Sputnik's partner company, RIA Global LLC, is registered as a foreign agent in the United States.

Read more: https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/01/17/tech/facebook-sputnik/index.html

[Farmer-Rick]

1. Do you think face book gave them a refund?

[ananda]

2. Ooohh.

Sting like a bee ...

[FreepFryer]

3. Pls tell us again why we permit the likes of RT-funded Chris Hedges and Thom Hartmann here? (n/t)

[TomVilmer]

4. Pls tell us why trolls keep saying this :)

The world gets really small and uninteresting when you live in an echo chamber. A few weeks ago my favorite programs at MSNBC was funded by the Boeing Company - merchants of war. I still found it interesting, since Rachel and Lawrence did not seem to change their tone for the sponsor. Also Thom is eagerly being himself, while your talking point might be quoted directly from Breitbart...

[FreepFryer]

5. I'm not a troll and Hartmann and Hedges' affiliations with Russian state-sponsored media are fact.

We don't owe Russian media figureheads representation at a site for Democratic party politics.

PS - welcome to DU!

[TomVilmer]

6. And so are Rachel Maddow's and Lawrence O'donnell's affiliation with Boeing...

Let's ban such merchants of war's figureheads from representation at a site for Democratic party politics. Or maybe start to listen to their words, and not just judge Rachel and Lawrence for their sponsor. BTW, I have been on DU for ten years, but I can see research is not something you like to do.

[FreepFryer]

7. Boeing didn't hack our election, nor use Novichok against a man and his daughter. (n/t)

[TomVilmer]

8. Neither did RT

But is is quite easy to find bad stuff about Boeing:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Boeing+scandal

And you are still breaking DU policy by "peddling right-wing talking points and smears", since you talking points about RT-funded Chris Hedges and Thom Hartmann are from Breitbart.

[FreepFryer]

9. Hilarious! RT and Sputnik had to admit to being an agent of the Russian government. (n/t)

Nice false equivalence/whataboutism/bothsidesism and empty accusations of this as a 'right-wing talking point' from Breitbart - I guess US Intelligence, the BBC and James Clapper are all Breitbart contributors?

RT uses production companies to produce content for an American audience.

In the registration, Solodovnikov notes his firm's funding comes from TV Novosti, and admits the Russian government finances the organisation. But Solodovnikov also says he is not "sufficiently aware of who supervises, owns, directs, controls or subsidises" TV Novosti.

American intelligence agencies have a low opinion of the network. Ex-CIA director James Clapper has called RT "a mouthpiece of Russian governmental propaganda," whose assets and executives are closely tied to Vladimir Putin.

An unclassified version of a January US intelligence report points to RT and Russian-backed website Sputnik as a key part of Russian interference with the US election, arguing the outlet served "as a platform for Kremlin messaging".

"The Kremlin staffs RT and closely supervises RT's coverage, recruiting people who can convey Russian strategic messaging because of their ideological beliefs," the report states.

It also details close links between editorial management and the Russian government and cites RT and Sputnik's ramping up of pro-Trump and anti-Clinton stories around March 2016, including Russian talking points that Clinton's election would led to a war between US and Russia.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41991683

[TomVilmer]

11. I do not care if some info are from DU, RT or Breitbart...

... but I do care if it is correct. RT is a quite big operation, and most of their News section are directly from Kremlin. We all know that, so this is no problem. But they do have other areas also, where Thom and other good people are allowed full freedom. They are used by RT, so folks like me are happy to get info from them - which does not make me love the rest of RT.

Just like you totally agree with Breitbart about that Thom-story, but might not like some of their other stories...

[FreepFryer]

12. Your empty effort to equate factual critics of Russia with Breitbart nuts is duly noted.

Also please provide a citation to back up your assertion that Russian government gives Thom Hartmann 'full freedom' to post his own content. In lieu of your personal proof, I'll stick with the US intelligence community's assessment of the journalistic independence of RT and Sputnik 'programming'.

[GulfCoast66]

13. So the Boeing Company is just like RT...

Got it. One is a US company that makes aircraft, including military ones it sells to airlines and the US government and other countries that the US government allows them to sell to. Elect a Democratic government and perhaps those sales will be limited to real allies.

The other is a propaganda arm of the Kremlin which it is safe to assume only carries voices that the Kremlin approves

Yeah, exactly the same.

[Farmer-Rick]

10. OK, I'm lost, How does this relate to Facebook removing Russian spy ads

Especially when the Russian backed advertising group represented itself as someone else?

[FreepFryer]

14. Fake US news on FB, fake US journalism on DU. All Russian in origin, ideology, intent, & execution.

As plainly and specifically stated by US Intelligence.

Neither of these kinds of duplicitous fronts have a place in American political dialogue, to say nothing of our elections and political parties.