Facebook releases new tool to tell people if they engaged with controversial 'Internet Research Agency' accounts

NewsBharati 23-Dec-2017

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California, December 23: Recently Russia was allegedly criticized for meddling in US Presidential election 2016 and UK’s Brexit issues. While Russia continuously denied such claim, Facebook was heavily criticized by US Parliamentarians. As an aftermath of those incidents, Facebook has released a new tool where users can see if they engaged with pages linked to Russian propaganda efforts. The portal is expected to be released by the end of the year.

'We are taking action to be more transparent about the foreign interference in the 2016 US Elections,' Facebook says. The page will show if pages or accounts users liked or followed between January 2015 and August 2017 were created by Russian operatives. It is being blamed that the pages posted on religion, gun rights, gay rights, immigration and other hot topics.

The tool will allow users to see whether they interacted with a Facebook page or Instagram account created by the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a state-backed organization based in St Petersburg. Facebook will make the tool easily available and as soon as it will come up, Facebook will make users aware of the new tool.

“It is important that people understand how foreign actors tried to sow division and mistrust using Facebook before and after the 2016 US election,” the company said in an earlier statement.

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