The Washington Post reported that both Facebook and Twitter said they had disabled a “sprawling disinformation campaign that appeared to originate in Iran”. It included two Twitter accounts that mimicked Republican congressional candidates and may have sought to push pro-Iranian political messages.
According to The Washington Post, a private security firm called Fire Eye “did not attribute the activity to either Iranian state leaders or malicious actors operating within the country.” However, some of the tweets supported the Iranian nuclear deal, which President Trump withdrew from a year ago.
Some of the disabled account appeared to target their propaganda at specific journalists, policymakers, dissidents and other influential U.S. figures online. Those tactics left experts fearful that it could mark a new escalation in social-media warfare, with malicious actors stealing real-world identities to spread disinformation beyond the web.
Facebook posted on its Facebook Newsroom that it had removed 51 Facebook accounts, 36 Pages, seven Groups, and three Instagram accounts involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior that originated in Iran.
Facebook said the individuals involved misled people about who they were and what they were doing. “They purported to be located in the US and Europe, used fake accounts to run Pages and Groups, and impersonated legitimate news organizations in the Middle East. The individuals behind this activity also represented themselves as journalists or other personas and tried to contact policymakers, reporters, academics, Iranian dissidents and other public figures.”
Yoel Roth, Head of Site Integrity at Twitter, posted a thread of tweets that began with: “Earlier this month, we removed more than 2,800 inauthentic accounts originating in Iran. These are the accounts that FireEye, a private security firm, reported on today. We were not provided with this report or its findings.”
In another tweet, he wrote: “These accounts employed a range of false personas to target conservatives about political social issues in Iran and globally. Some engaged directly through public replies with politicians, journalists, and others.”
People need to be smarter about how they consume content on Facebook and Twitter. Think before you click a link. Seek out the real news website instead. Don’t retweet or share something without first taking the time to verify that it isn’t “fake news”.