Facebook removes Africa accounts linked to Russian troll factory

Fake networks in eight nations are connected to man allegedly behind disinformation empire

Facebook has taken down accounts linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin - the businessman allegedly behind Russia's notorious troll factory - which were actively seeking to influence the domestic politics of a range of African countries.

The company said on Wednesday it had suspended three networks of "inauthentic" Russian accounts. The Facebook pages targeted eight countries across the continent: Madagascar, the Central African Republic (CAR), Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Sudan and Libya.