Facebook deletes hundreds of Saudi Arabian covert influence pages
(CNN) – Facebook announced it has deleted hundreds of pages that are part of a Saudi Arabian covert influence campaign.
The pages were designed to look like they were created by legitimate news outlets or local people from the middle east and north Africa.
The network of fake pages created posts that portrayed the Saudi government in a positive light and criticized neighboring countries.
Combined, the pages had more than a million followers.
Facebook has made at least 14 public announcements about take-downs of fake pages stemming from 17 different countries this year.
US intelligence officials have said that Russia used Facebook and other platforms to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and are concerned it will do so again in 2020.
