Facebook says it has removed hundreds of fake accounts involved in an influence campaign and linked to the government of Saudi Arabia.
The company said it took down more than 210 Facebook accounts and 144 Facebook pages "involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior originating from Saudi Arabia".
Five Facebook groups and 31 Instragram accounts were also taken down.
An estimated 1.4 million accounts followed the pages in question, while around €100,000 was spent on advertising by those behind the accounts across Facebook and Instagram.
According to the social network, the people behind the accounts typically ran content about regional news and politics while posing as local news organisations.
It included content praising the controversial Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, and criticising neighbouring countries such as Iran, Qatar and Turkey.
Sample of content posted by the pages removed by Facebook. Image: FacebookThe accounts also 'called into question' the credibility of the Al-Jazeera news network - which is based in Qatar - and the human rights organisation Amnesty International.
Facebook added: "Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities, our review found links to individuals associated with the government of Saudi Arabia."
'Coordinated inauthentic behaviour'
Meanwhile, hundreds of accounts and pages have also been removed for engaging in "coordinated inauthentic behaviour" that originated in the UAE and Egypt.
The content posted by the accounts often focused on the Middle Eastern and North / East African countries, including Libya, Sudan, Comoros, Qatar, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Morocco.
Facebook said the content posted included alleged support of terrorist groups by Qatar and Turkey and successes of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
An investigation by the social network into those behind the accounts and pages found links to two marketing firms - one based in Egypt and another in UAE.
In a statement, Facebook said: "The two campaigns we removed were unconnected, but both created networks of accounts to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing.
"We have shared information about our findings with law enforcement, industry partners and policymakers."
The firm added that it was will continue tackling such efforts "because we don’t want our services to be used to manipulate people".
