Tactics used by the group, according to Meta, include presenting journalists and independent news outlets online to drive Russian-speaking outlets, trying to hack dozens of Ukrainian soldiers’ Facebook accounts, and conducting coordinated campaigns to try to obtain publications from critics of Russia removed from social media.
The hackers were successful in “a handful of cases,” Meta said, and they posted videos urging the military to surrender, as if the posts came from legitimate account holders. We have blocked the sharing of these videos. ”
Meta also noted that the actions of groups linked to the Russian and Belarusian governments seem to have intensified shortly before the invasion. The company said it had noticed that Belarusian KGB-linked accounts “suddenly began to be published in Polish and English about Ukrainian troops surrendering without a fight and the nation’s leaders fleeing the country on the day of February 24.” that Russia started the war. ”
Meta also said it had removed a network of about 200 Russian-managed accounts that repeatedly filed false reports about people in Ukraine and Russia in an attempt to remove them and their posts from the platform. The accounts regularly falsely report to Meta that people in Ukraine and Russia have violated the company’s rules on hate speech and other policies. This tactic, known as “mass reporting,” is commonly used by people trying to close their opponent’s social media accounts.
Vadim Khudima, co-founder of Digital Security Lab Ukraine, an organization that helps protect the online accounts of journalists and activists, said Russia’s invasion had led to “a huge jump in attacks on social media accounts through mass reporting.”
Many targeted Twitter and Facebook accounts have not been verified, making it difficult to recover accounts from organizations that raised money and coordinated medical supplies in response to the Russian invasion, Hudima told CNN.
“Many social media pages have been temporarily closed. We’ve probably restored most of them pretty quickly. But it was a mess.”
Meta also said he continues to see the use of fake profile photos in disinformation campaigns.
In a previous statement in February, Meta said she had discovered and protected a secret Russian influence operation that kept accounts posing as people in Kyiv, including news editors, and targeted Ukrainians.
“They claim to be based in Kyiv and pose as news editors, a former aviation engineer and the author of a scientific publication on hydrography – the science of water mapping,” Meta said in a blog post.
Meta linked the fake accounts to people previously sanctioned by the US government. According to data reviewed by CNN, the accounts and websites operated by this influence operation did not appear to be very successful in reaching many people.
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