Facebook Deletes Pages, Accounts for Spreading Fake News.

Facebook announced on Thursday that it had deleted over 800pages and accounts, mostly U.S.-based pages and accounts that were posting politically oriented spam and engaging in "inauthentic behavior." 

According to Facebook, many of the pages and accounts had posted political click bait across multiple fake accounts to drive users to their websites, where they were often targeted with ads.  

"Many used the same techniques to make their content appear more popular on Facebook than it really was," Facebook said on its news blog. "Others were ad farms using Facebook to mislead people into thinking that they were forums for legitimate political debate." 

The social media giant declined a request from VOA News to name the 559 pages and 251 accounts. Nation in Distress, a pro-President Donald Trump page identified by The Washington Post as being among the banned, had over 3 million followers.

In the past, Facebook deletes dozens of pages spreading fake news originating from Iran and Russia, countries that have antagonistic relations with the U.S. The company says most of the pages and accounts banned this time were from the U.S.

The 'news' stories or opinions these accounts and pages share are often indistinguishable from legitimate political debate," noting the proximity of the 2018 midterm elections, Facebook said.