Facebook and Twitter said Tuesday that they had removed accounts linked to Russian state actors who tried to spread false stories about racial justice, the Democratic presidential campaign of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and President Trump's policies.
Both Facebook and Twitter detected and removed accounts associated with the site before any of them had gathered a large following.
While Facebook has drawn criticism for not doing enough to limit the spread of disinformation from accounts associated with conspiracy theories like QAnon, Gleicher said Tuesday's take-down of the Russian-linked accounts shows that partnerships with law enforcement and research groups can pay off.
With the presidential election two months away, social media companies, including Facebook and Twitter, have been under heightened pressure from Congress and outside groups to step up efforts to curb the spread of disinformation, which often moves rapidly across the platforms before moderators respond.
Both Facebook and Twitter have announced new policies, including labeling posts that are misleading or contain manipulated media, attempting to add context to trending stories and, when content brazenly violates their rules, removing the posts altogether.
Social media analysis firm Graphika said the accounts appears to reveal new tactics that Russian operatives are employing on social media ahead of the 2020 election, including the use of artificial intelligence to create social media profiles.
Between February and August, the website published more than 500 articles in English and about 200 in Arabic that were shared on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, according to Graphika.
The report supports America's top counterintelligence official, who said last month that Russia is spreading propaganda on social media and on Russian television to try to undercut Biden ahead of the November election.
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