Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that a group of “Democratic tech experts” used Russian-style disinformation tactics during Alabama’s 2017 special election in an attempt to splinter support for Republican candidate Roy Moore. Now, The Washington Post reports that Facebook has suspended accounts used by five people involved in the project.
The Times report lays out what occurred in Alabama last year: the project’s participants started a Facebook page where they posed as conservative Alabama voters. They encouraged followers to cast write-in votes, and bought retweets on Twitter to amplify their message. According to a report seen by the Times, the project’s authors say that they “orchestrated an elaborate ‘false flag’...