WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th August, 2021) Facebook said on Tuesday it removed some 300 social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram, mostly operated from Russia, because they posted anti-vaccine content.
"We removed 65 Facebook accounts and 243 Instagram accounts from Russia that we linked to Fazze, a subsidiary of a UK-registered marketing firm, whose operations were primarily conducted from Russia," the company said in a report. "Fazze is now banned from our platform. This operation targeted audiences primarily in India, Latin America and, to a much lesser extent, the United States."
Moscow has repeatedly denied all allegations of foreign interference.
Facebook said about $650 was spent on anti-vaccine advertisements, primarily paid for in US Dollars, Euros and Russian rubles and focused on discrediting the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines, according to the report.
Some of the pages had between 24,000 and 55,000 followers, but for the most part failed to build an audience after their posts received little to no engagement, the report said.
