Facebook removes Iran-linked accounts followed by more than 1 million people

Facebook removes Iran-linked accounts followed by more than 1 million people

5 years ago
Anonymous $oIHRkISgaL

https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/26/18028630/facebook-iran-influence-campaign-removal-accounts-pages-groups

Facebook has identified more suspicious behavior on its platform linked to an ongoing Iranian influence campaign, the company announced today. In total, Facebook’s security team removed a combined 82 pages, groups, and accounts that were masquerading as US and sometimes UK citizens and organizations. Facebook prohibits “coordinated inauthentic behavior” on the platform, and due to this behavior’s proximity to the US midterm elections, the company says it promptly banned all instances of the network it discovered.

The existence of an Iranian influence campaign designed to sow division and amplify tensions in the US was first revealed back in August, and Google has similarly found evidence of the operation spreading to YouTube. “Despite attempts to hide their true identities, a manual review of these accounts linked their activity to Iran. We also identified some overlap with the Iranian accounts and Pages we removed in August,” writes Nathaniel Gleicher, the company’s head of cybersecurity policy. “However, it’s still early days and while we have found no ties to the Iranian government, we can’t say for sure who is responsible.”