Activists collected a snapshot of posts from 180 groups that were targeting Irish voters, before the social media giant turned off the location tool, saying it had been “mistakenly launched”. Even some groups registered with Ireland’s ethics watchdog, the Standards In Public Office Commission (Sipo), had Facebook pages managed from abroad. Foreign influence seemed particularly strong in messages urging Irish voters not to overturn the country’s near-total ban on terminating pregnancies. Another is Toronto-based LifeSiteNews, whose headlines include: “Social media uses #fakenews and Stalinist efforts to help repeal Ireland’s pro-life 8th amendment”. David Quinn of Catholic thinktank the Iona institute tweeted last week: “Of course mainstream media dislike social media advertising by pro-lifers.

Source: The Guardian May 12, 2018 19:52 UTC