Facebook, Twitter, Other Social Media Giants Wipe Out Propaganda Accounts

Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc, and Alphabet Inc collectively wiped out hundreds of accounts tied to an alleged Iranian propaganda operation on Tuesday, while Facebook took down a second campaign it claimed was linked to Russia.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that the accounts identified on his company’s platform were part of two separate campaigns. The first was from Iran with some ties to state-backed media. Then, the second one had something to do with sources which Washington has previously named as Russian military intelligence services.

Officials in Iran, where the Eid al-Adha festival is being celebrated, were not immediately available to comment on the matter. Moscow has denied using hacking or fake social media accounts to influence foreign elections. The Russian embassy in Washington did not right away respond to requests for a statement.

The move by Facebook and others is the most recent attempt by global social media market leaders to guard against political interference on their platforms. It comes amid growing concerns about foreign attempts to disrupt the US midterm elections in November.

The United States earlier this year indicted 13 Russian for alleged attempts to meddle with US politics. However, the latest alleged Iranian activity, exposed by cybersecurity firm FireEye Incm, indicates that the problem may be more widespread.

“It really shows it’s not just Russia that engages in this type of activity,” said Lee Foster, who is an information operations analyst at FireEye.

FireEye said the Iranian campaign utilized a network of fake news websites and fraudulent social media personas spread cross Facebook, Instagram, Google Plus, YouTube, and Twitter, pushing narratives in line with Tehran interests.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.

The activity was directed at users in Britain, Latin America, Middle East, and the United States up through this month, according to FireEye. It included “anti-saudi, anti-Israeli, and pro-Palestinian themes,” as well as campaigns of policies favorable to Iran such as the US-Iran nuclear deal.

FireEye stated that the activity did not seem to be “dedicated” to influencing the upcoming election, even though some of the posts targeted at US users did adopt “left-leaning identities” and took positions against President Donald Trump.

That activity “could suggest a more active attempt to influence domestic US political discourse” is forthcoming, according to Foster, though they haven’t witnessed it yet.

Facebook said that the account related to Russia that it removed were engaged in “inauthentic behavior” that was related to politics in Syria and Ukraine. It stated that the activity did not appear to be linked to the Iranian campaign.

“These were distinct campaigns and we have not identified any link of coordination between them. However, they used similar tactics by creating networks of accounts to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing,” said the company in a statement.

Facebook last month wiped out 32 pages and accounts tied to another misinformation campaign without describing the origins, though US lawmakers said that these likely had Russian involvement.

Microsoft said this week that hackers connected to the Russian government attempted to steal email login credentials from US politicians and think tanks, allegations the Russian foreign ministry described as a “witch-hunt.”

FireEye stated that the US-focused Iranian activity were more robust last year, just a few months after Trump took office, with websites and social media accounts posting memes and articles. Some of the articles were apparently lifted and copied from legit US and Iranian news outlets.

In some instances, the domains for the fake websites such as “US Journal” and “Liberty Free Press” were originally registered many years before the 2016x election but most of them remained inactive until last year, according to FireEye.

Arabic-language, Middle East-focused websites seem to be involved in the same campaign, the company said.

The tech companies variously sadi that they linked the accounts to Iran based on user phone numbers, website registration records, email addresses, and the timing of account activity that matches Iranian business hours.

FireEye showed “moderate confidence” about the Iranian origins, but stated that it has not been able to track the accounts bank to a specific organization or individuals.

Hundreds of thousands of people followed one or more of the Facebook pages that were implicated in the campaign, according to Facebook.

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