Facebook announced that it had removed 652 fake pages and accounts that had ties to Russia and Iran and that were created for the purpose of spreading disinformation and influencing political views in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Latin America. . Facebook explained that the investigation – conducted by cybersecurity firm FireEye – discovered the existence of four different disinformation campaigns, three of which originated in Iran.
The first campaign involved 74 pages, 70 accounts and three groups on Facebook, as well as 76 Instagram accounts, which responded to the slogan “Liberty Front Press” and who defined themselves as independent; they were actually tied to the Iranian state and published content related to the Middle East, the United Kingdom, the United States and Latin America. The goal of this first campaign, FireEye said, was to “promote Iranian political interests, including anti-Saudi, anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian issues, as well as promote support for some pro-Iranian US policies. , like the US-Iran nuclear deal “.
The second campaign involved 12 pages and 66 Facebook accounts, as well as 9 Instagram accounts. The accounts presented themselves as newspaper profiles or news sites, but were actually used to carry out cyber attacks.
The third campaign involved 168 pages and 140 Facebook accounts, and 31 Instagram accounts. It promoted events and had achieved considerable circulation (one of the pages was followed by more than 800 thousand people): it shared mostly contents in Arabic and Farsi (the language spoken in Iran) concerning the politics of the Middle East, the United Kingdom and from the United States.
Not much is known about the fourth campaign. Facebook spoke of a set of pages, groups and accounts linked to Russian military intelligence and without ties to the first three, which started in Iran instead. It is known that it was mostly focused on spreading pro-Russian messages related to the wars in Syria and Ukraine.
Facebook's announcement came less than a month after the social network had deleted 32 pages and accounts that attempted to influence the US midterm elections, which will take place on November 6. After the 2016 US presidential election, Facebook revealed that the social network had been used to amplify divisive messages on issues such as racial discrimination, gun control and the environment. The latest survey, which was also followed by the deletion of some Twitter accounts with links to Iran and the “Liberty Front Press” channel on YouTube, showed that Facebook continues to be used as a means to influence political views on various issues. all over the world.
