‘Facebook clears dozens of Islamophobic posts’

London, Dec 9 (IANS) Facebook has reportedly cleared dozens of Islamophobic posts despite being flagged by an investigation by the Guardian that these posts are being used as part of a coordinated scheme profiting from hate and disinformation.

The Guardian revealed on Friday that an Israel-based group had gained access to at least 21 far-right Facebook pages with vast followings across the western world.

The 21 pages were used as part of a network to distribute over 1,000 “news” posts each week to more than one million followers.

Besides spreading disinformation and hate targeting Muslims, the posts were used to promote far-right politicians and vilify prominent Muslim politicians.

The motive for the operation appears to be financial, showed the investigation which revealed that the Facebook posts directed users to a cluster of ad-heavy websites, all controlled by a single entity.

Following the Guardian investigation, Facebook launched its own probe and removed pages and accounts which were found to be spamming content for financial gain.

“But the Guardian has learned that since the original story was published on Friday, Facebook has been telling users that dozens of posts distributed through the network meet its community standards,” said the report on Sunday.