Exclusive - Facebook takes down right-wing fake news network ahead of Brazil election: sources

FILE PHOTO: Facebook logo is seen at a start-up companies gathering at Paris' Station F in Paris, France on January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc on Wednesday took down a network of pages and accounts used to spread fake news by members of a right-wing Brazilian activist group, sources told Reuters, as part of a crackdown ahead of an election in October.

Facebook deactivated 196 pages and 87 accounts in Brazil for their part in "a coordinated network that hid behind fake Facebook accounts and misled people about the nature and origin of its content, all for the purpose of sowing division and spreading misinformation," it said in a statement.