By Stephen Nakrosis

Facebook Inc. on Wednesday said four separate networks were removed for violating the company's policies concerning "foreign interference and coordinated inauthentic behavior."

The networks originated in Canada and Ecuador, Brazil, Ukraine, and the U.S., the company said.

Facebook said when it investigates and removes such operations, "We focus on behavior rather than content, no matter who's behind them, what they post, or whether they're foreign or domestic." The company said in each of these four cases, "the people behind this activity coordinated with one another and used fake accounts as a central part of their operations to mislead people about who they are and what they are doing."

Most of the activity removed by Facebook focused on domestic audiences in each country and was linked to people associated with political campaigns and offices or with commercial entities, the company said.

Facebook said it removed 41 accounts, 77 pages and 56 Instagram accounts whose activity originated in Canada and Ecuador for violating its policy against foreign interference.

The company also removed 35 accounts, 14 pages, one group and 38 Instagram accounts involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior in Brazil. In Ukraine 72 accounts, 35 Pages, and 13 Instagram involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior were removed. In the U.S. Facebook removed 54 accounts, 50 Pages, and 4 Instagram accounts involved in similar behavior, including ones linked to Roger Stone and the banned Proud Boys group. 



  --Write to Stephen Nakrosis at stephen.nakrosis@wsj.com