Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook has already blocked a billion fake accounts

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo / AP

Mark Zuckerberg attempted to reassure the public that his firm is ready to protect this year's elections from any interference.

In a 3,000-word post, the Facebook CEO wrote that the firm is "better prepared" to defend against efforts to manipulate the platform for the purpose of influencing elections.

He added that Facebook has recently thwarted foreign influence campaigns targeting several countries - an indicator that it has the proper tools to do the same in the US, according to the Daily Mail.

The post comes as the midterm elections are now two months away.

Zuckerberg outlined a series of steps the leading social network has taken to protect against misinformation and manipulation campaigns aimed at disrupting elections.

"In 2016, we were not prepared for the coordinated information operations we now regularly face," Zuckerberg wrote in the post.

"But we have learned a lot since then and have developed sophisticated systems that combine technology and people to prevent election interference on our services."

However, he warned that the task continues to be difficult because "we face sophisticated, well-funded adversaries."

"They won't give up, and they will keep evolving," he added.

Zuckerberg called on journalists, governments and non-profits to help fight misinformation, while seeking cooperation from law enforcement and intelligence agencies to track "money flows" from "foreign adversaries".

He pointed out that bad actors don't usually limit their activities to one social media platform and that certain agencies or organizations might have access to privileged information that could help bolster their ability to remove accounts.

"Traditional cyberattacks remain a big problem for everyone, and many democracies are at risk of attacks on critical election infrastructure like voting machines," Zuckerberg said.

"The more we can share intelligence, the better prepared each organization will be."

Zuckerberg also detailed how the company has already taken steps to prevent attempts at interference.

The firm identified and removed fake accounts ahead of elections in France, Germany, Alabama, Mexico and Brazil.

It also took down foreign influence campaigns from Russia and Iran that attempted to target elections in the US, UK, Middle East and other places.

The Facebook co-founder said the social network remains in a constant battle with those who create fake accounts that could be used to spread false information - having blocked more than a billion.

"With advances in machine learning, we have now built systems that block millions of fake accounts every day," he said.

"In total, we removed more than one billion fake accounts - the vast majority within minutes of being created and before they could do any harm - in the six months between October and March."

Zuckerberg's post was the latest in a series of steps aimed at repairing the damage from its missteps in 2016, including the hijacking of personal data on millions of Facebook users by a political consultancy working for Donald Trump.