Meta profits from known pro-Russian disinfo network: researchers [Video]

Social media giant Meta made hundreds of thousands of dollars last year from content posted by a well-known pro-Russian disinformation network, researchers have claimed.

Tens of thousands of Facebook users in France, Germany, Poland and Italy were targeted with cartoons mocking French politicians, messages hostile to European aid to Ukraine and other so-called sponsored content.

A report by digital manipulation specialists titled “Influence by Design” claimed that the pro-Russian “Doppelganger” operation, widely known about since 2022, was behind the posts.

The report published in mid-January by Check First, Reset Tech and AI Forensics said Meta was paid $338,000 between August 2023 and November 2024 to place at least 8,000 pieces of sponsored content.

Doppelganger started out by imitating Western media outlets to relay anti-Ukraine and anti-Western messages.

The operation has continued to prosper on various social networks, including ads on Facebook.

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Two Russian companies were widely accused of being behind …