NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook said it has purged more than 800 U.S. pages and accounts for spamming users with politically-tinged garbage links and clickbait just weeks ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.

The banned accounts and Facebook sites exhibited "coordinated inauthentic behavior" such as working together to make the pages appear more popular than they actually are. This, Facebook said, was designed to mislead users about who they are and what they're doing.

The social network said these accounts spread "sensational political content" designed to drive people to ad-laden websites outside Fa...