Facebook announced Tuesday it took down hundreds of accounts, groups and pages for "coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram."
Facebook said the activity originated in Iran and Russia. After a tip from cybersecurity firm FireEye, Facebook found and removed 652 Iranian pages, groups and accounts reportedly targeting the U.S., U.K., Latin America and the Middle East.
Facebook also said it removed an unspecified number of pages, groups and accounts linked to "sources the US government has previously identified as Russian military intelligence services." The statement said this latest group of Russian-linked users were not targeting U.S. and that they were not connected to the Iranian activity.
This latest batch of removals comes as Facebook and other tech companies have sought to prevent foreign meddling in the midterm elections. Microsoft recently shut down six Russian-linked websites set up to look like websites for various U.S. entities, including the Senate.
