Meta says it took down an extensive network of Facebook and Instagram accounts pushing disinformation published on more than 60 websites that spoofed multiple legitimate news sites across Europe.
This influence network mainly targeted Germany, France, Italy, Ukraine, and the U.K., with original articles arguing that Western sanctions on Russia would backfire and criticizing Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees.
"The operation began in May of this year and centered around a sprawling network of over 60 websites carefully impersonating legitimate websites of news organizations in Europe," said Meta's Global Threat Intelligence Lead Ben Nimmo and Threat Disruption Director David Agranovich.
"There, they would post original articles that criticized Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees, supported Russia and argued that Western sanctions on Russia would backfire."
News outlets impersonated by this massive disinformation network
included, but are not limited to, la Repubblica (repubblica[.]life), Der Spiegel (e.g., spiegel[.]ltd, spiegel[.]today, spiegeli[.]live, spiegel[.]pro), The Guardian (theguardian[.]co[.]com), and Bild (bild[.]eu[.]com, bild[.]LLC), and Italian news agency ANSA (ansa[.]ltd).
They would promote links to the article, as well as memes and YouTube videos across many online services, including Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Twitter, and LiveJournal. The articles were also pushed via petitions on websites like Change.org and Avaaz.
