Extensive Russian Propaganda Network on Facebook Could Bring Fresh EU Scrutiny to the App

Several networks of more than a half-million Facebook pages have spread Russian propaganda and anti-Ukraine sentiment since 2021, according to a new report from Reset, a tech industry watchdog.

The misinformation web has expanded dramatically in the past 20 months — even after Reset notified Facebook about its existence. Facebook's inaction may be a violation of Europe's new Digital Services Act, which aims to make tech companies more responsible for harmful information on their platform.

The accounts began appear in October 2021, then proliferated after Russia invaded Ukraine the following February. Many of the pages had similar profile pictures — red Valentine’s Day hearts, flowers and gifts — and many have gone inactive.

The networks also spent tens of thousands of dollars on scam ads written in French and German, and in some instances, Facebook did remove some of the pages once they began running ads, which seemed to trigger internal alarms at Facebook that the pages didn't.

Reset researchers couldn't definitively link the networks to the Russian government, though they seemed to "parrot the same propaganda" used by the Kremlin, said Felix Kartte, Reset's European director.

Meta, which did not comment for this story, already faces scrutiny from European regulators over misinformation connected to the Israel-Hamas war and faces a potential onslaught of more fake content related to next year's U.S. presidential election.