Facebook Will Soon Alert Users Who Liked A Russia-Linked Page

Facebook will start alerting users who 'liked' a page that has been linked to Russia, the company says. This is part of Facebook's transparency over the matter, it said in a recent release, explaining that "this is part of our ongoing effort to protect our platforms and the people who use them from bad actors who try to undermine our democracy."

In the weeks since Facebook disclosed the discovery of these Russia-linked pages, it has become clear that many people on the social network saw them and many 'liked' them or posts made by them. An upcoming tool will show those users if they've liked one of these pages or a similar Instagram account. This tool is currently in development.

When this tool will be available wasn't stated, nor further details about it such as whether all users will be pointed toward it. Based on a preview of the tool Facebook released, it appears users will be given a list of the Russia-linked Pages and Instagram accounts they've liked and followed, as well as the date when that took place.

As previously disclosed, these pages and accounts served as a way for Russia to meddle in US election affairs, using the accounts to, in some cases, fuel social issues and more. Many of the advertisements were political in nature; others went so far as to set up protests for groups on both sides of the fence.

The disclosure, followed by a similar one from Twitter, highlights the issues social media and fake news can present. Many have called on platforms like Facebook to take steps to better prevent these things from happening, while others demand regulations to force the companies to stop this from happening again.

SOURCE: Facebook