Next online battle will play on fear of bots, says Facebook official

New 'influence operations' will openly advertise participation in debate instead of hiding it

The next wave of "influence operations" like those that Russia used to target the 2016 US election will aim to destabilise debate by making voters think bots are everywhere, Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy has said.

Nathaniel Gleicher, who runs the company's response to politically motivated malfeasance on its platform, said groups such as Russia's Internet Research Agency (IRA) were increasingly trying to manipulate public perception of themselves. "Not running a large network of fake accounts but just playing on the fact that everyone thinks there are large networks of fake accounts out there," he said.