Donald Trump

Facebook Shuts Down 30,000 Fake Accounts in France Ahead of Presidential Election

Citing deceptive content and misinformation, Facebook has shut down 30,000 fake accounts tied to France ahead of the country's presidential election this month, NBC News reports.

The social media giant revealed ramped up efforts to stop the spread of fake news, hoaxes and spam through fake accounts, which "enabled [the company] to take action" against the French accounts, Facebook said in a statement.

New technology allows the company to recognize "inauthentic accounts more easily by identifying patterns of activity — without assessing the content itself," like detecting "repeated posting of the same content, or an increase in messages sent," according to the statement.

After facing harsh criticism for the lack of intervention for the spread of fake news ahead of the U.S election, which critics said may have helped sway the results in favor of Donald Trump, Facebook upped its efforts in December.

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