Facebook suspends fake Russian accounts, warns of U.S. election hack-and-leak threat

Russia has repeatedly denied allegations of election meddling and says it does not interfere in the domestic politics of other countries.

Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebooks head of cybersecurity policy, said there was no immediate evidence that hacked documents were about to be leaked, but by suspending the accounts Facebook hoped to prevent them being used in any subsequent operation.

Facebook said the networks were small with only a handful of accounts on its website and photo-sharing service Instagram, some of which posed as independent media outlets and think tanks.

While some of the activity did target audiences in Britain and the United States, the networks were predominantly focused on countries in the Middle East and bordering Russia, such as Syria, Turkey, Ukraine and Belarus, Facebook said.

Twitter Inc TWTR.N said it had worked with Facebook to identify and remove 350 accounts operated by state-linked organisations in Russia.

Both companies said one of the networks had been identified following a tip from the FBI, which warned on Tuesday that foreign actors and cybercriminals were likely to spread disinformation about the results of the Nov.

The warnings follow an alert by Microsoft Corp MSFT.O earlier this month that hackers linked to Russia, China, and Iran are trying to spy on people tied to both U.S.

That doesnt dismiss the fact that the scale and scope of domestic disinformation is far greater than what any foreign adversary could do, he said.