Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Saturday 4 auguSt 2018
Facebook finds 'sophisticated' efforts to disrupt elections

By BARBARA ORTUTAY and tors with a forecast of lower
MARY CLARE JALONICK profitability last Wednes-
Associated Press day. Facebook's shares
NEW YORK (AP) — Face- promptly dropped almost
book elevated concerns 20 percent and haven't re-
about election interfer- covered.
ence Tuesday, announcing While the company would
that it had uncovered "so- not say who is behind the
phisticated" efforts, possibly efforts, Facebook said it
linked to Russia, to manipu- uncovered links between
late U.S. politics and by ex- the accounts it just delet-
tension the upcoming mid- ed and those created by
term elections. Russia's Internet Research
The company was care- Agency in the 2016 influ-
ful to hedge its announce- ence effort.
ment; it didn't link the effort For example, the Atlantic
directly to Russia or to the Council's researchers not-
midterms, now less than a ed "language patterns that
hundred days away. And indicate non-native English
its findings were limited to and consistent mistransla-
32 apparently fake ac- tion, as well as an over-
counts on Facebook and whelming focus on polar-
Instagram, which the com- izing issues." The accounts
pany removed because In this April 10, 2018 file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before a joint seemed focused on build-
they were involved in "co- hearing of the Commerce and Judiciary Committees on Capitol Hill in Washington about the use ing up an online audience
ordinated" and "inauthen- of Facebook data to target American voters in the 2016 election. and moving it to offline
tic" political behavior. Associated Press events, such as protests.
But official Washington Warner expressed "pretty sic Research Lab in a blog social media to try to influ- The earliest page was
connected those dots any- high confidence" that Rus- post Tuesday. The nonprofit ence the 2016 U.S. election, created in March 2017.
way, not least because the sia was behind the assault. is working with Facebook to Facebook has escalated Facebook says more than
reported activity so closely A spokesman for Senate find and analyze abuse on countermeasures intended 290,000 accounts fol-
mirrored Russian influence Judiciary Chairman Chuck its service. to prevent a repeat. It has lowed at least one of the
campaigns during the Grassley said Facebook The perpetrators, Face- cracked down on fake ac- fake pages. The most fol-
2016 presidential election. had informed his office that book noted, have been counts and tried to slow the lowed Facebook pages
Nearly 300,000 people fol- "that a limited group of Rus- "more careful to cover their spread of fake news and had names such as "Aztlan
lowed at least one of the sian actors has attempted tracks" than in 2016, in part misinformation through Warriors," ''Black Elevation,"
newly banned accounts to spread disinformation us- because of steps Face- outside fact-checkers. The ''Mindful Being," and "Resist-
and thousands expressed ing its platform and that the book has taken to prevent company has also an- ers."
interest in events they pro- affected groups are affili- abuse over the past year. nounced new guidelines Facebook didn't provide
moted. ated with the political left." For example, they used vir- around political advertise- detailed descriptions of
"This is an absolute attack The identified accounts tual private networks and ments, requiring disclosure those pages. But their
on our democracy," said sought to "promote divi- internet phone services to of who paid for them and names parallel those of
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, sions and set Americans mask their locations, and keeping a database. 2016 groups established by
the top Democrat on the against one another," paid third parties to run ads Facebook has ramped up Russian agents to manipu-
Senate intelligence com- wrote Ben Nimmo and Gra- on their behalf. spending on these and late Americans with partic-
mittee, which Facebook ham Brookie of the Atlan- After it became clear that other measures, so much so ular ethnic, cultural or politi-
had briefed in advance. tic Council's Digital Foren- Russia-linked actors used that it finally spooked inves- cal identities. q

Kroger brings it home,

introduces online delivery

still a tiny part of the mar- cery delivery company stores under a number of
ket, but supermarket oper- Shipt last year to boost its names.
ators are betting that more same-day delivery capa- Delivery is free for any or-
people will want to buy bilities. And Walmart, like der with a tab exceeding
their milk and bread from Kroger, has expanded their $35. Smaller deliveries are
their smartphone or com- curbside pickup service, $4.99 per order.
puter, especially after Am- which lets shoppers buy Kroger Co. is toying with
azon bought Whole Foods their groceries online and other technologies in
a year ago. The online pick up at the store. hopes of gaining an edge.
retailer rolled out 2-hour Kroger Ship launched It revealed in June that it
In this June 15, 2017, file photo, bagged purchases from the delivery for its Prime mem- Wednesday in Cincinnati, was testing grocery deliv-
Kroger grocery store in Flowood, Miss., sit inside this shopping bers in some cities, lowered its hometown, as well as eries with driverless cars.
cart. prices on select groceries Houston; Louisville, Ken- And it recently upped its
Associated Press
and launched special dis- tucky; and Nashville, Ten- investment in British online
counts. nessee. It will expand to grocer Ocado, giving it ac-
NEW YORK (AP) — Kroger is crucial element to gain loy-
introducing online delivery alty in a hyper-competitive Others are trying to catch other markets over the cess to its online ordering,
up with Amazon and next few months. Kroger is automated fulfillment and
as customer convenience atmosphere.
becomes an increasingly Online grocery shopping is they're threatening gro- the biggest grocery chain home delivery technology
cers. Target bought gro- in the country with 2,800 in the U.S.q