Facebook’s latest external meddling disclosure: “We expected the organization to evolve”
It's worth noting that a number of rallies, causes and protests have allegedly been brought about by groups operating out of Russia, China and North Korea (and likely other countries too) and the aim here is not a direct attack on a government, but rather to manipulate an unsuspecting public, and often to pit opposing public groups against each other.
Maybe it's good news that we no longer really see full out warfare on the ground, but "warfare" has clearly moved into the cyber realm with regards to espionage and terrorism. This move has caused real damage (Iran's power plants) as well as deaths, and is often not easily attributable to the perpetrators (either because they can't be found or because the nation detecting it does not want to expose how they know about it and want to keep tracking the perpetrators or feed false information).
The "Fake News" comes from all sides (it's been going on for decades by all governments including our own governments) and it is up to us to question what we read about and be more circumspect with the sources and reasons for publishing something. It is incredible how easily the public are passing on rumours (we had one last week as a genuine sounding voice note on WhatsApp claiming our petrol stations would be on strike on Friday due to the high oil prices). We are being exploited in the same way that phishing emails exploit many people (these emails are the same way that many cyber attacks are launched within an organisation).
So it is good to see that Facebook is actively doing something about it (as are many other large social networks). But everything can't be automated as these perpetrators exploit weaknesses in human behaviour. Now we also realise that fake followers on social media account are not just there for boosting follower numbers for the rich and famous, they often fulfil a more sinister purpose.
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Facebook’s latest meddling disclosure: “We expected the organization to evolve” 32 accounts shut down on Tuesday thanks to connection to 2016 IRA meddling. |