U.S.

Facebook Says It Removed 32 'Bad Actor' Accounts And Pages

Facebook says it removed accounts on Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook Says It Removed 32 'Bad Actor' Accounts And Pages
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Facebook said it removed 32 pages and accounts from both Facebook and Instagram.

It's part of Facebook's crackdown on what it calls "Bad Actors" — accounts or pages "involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior."

In the announcement, Facebook said the four most-followed pages it deleted were "Aztlan Warriors," "Black Elevation," "Mindful Being" and "Resisters," and that more than 290,000 accounts followed at least one of those pages.

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said the announcement is "more evidence that the Kremlin continues to exploit platforms like Facebook to sow division and spread disinformation."

But Facebook said these accounts weren't as easily traceable as those created by the Russian-based Internet Research Agency. For some background, earlier this year Facebook removed more than 100 pages and dozens of accounts controlled by the IRA for targeting Americans before and after the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Facebook said it is still investigating the content and ads posted by the pages and accounts it deleted Tuesday to determine who is behind them.