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SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook announced Friday that it has identified and removed a new network of influence born in Iran that spread misinformation in the United States and Great Britain.
The company said it has removed more than 82 pages, groups and accounts, including 30 Facebook pages, 33 Instagram accounts and three separate Facebook groups. Facebook said it discovered the activity last week and opened an investigation. More than one million users in the United States and Britain followed the accounts.
Frequently published reports on politically charged topics, such as race relations and political candidates, said the company. Some positions have also addressed President Trump and race-related events in the United States. Less than $ 100 was spent in two separate ads by the person or people behind the network, the company said, which were paid in US and Canadian dollars.
"Although we have found no connection with the Iranian government at this point, we can not say for sure who is responsible," said Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's chief of cyber security policy, during a conference call. with journalists Friday.
Facebook said it was working with British and American authorities to find out, informed Congress and collaborated with other technology companies to identify those responsible for this behavior.
Withdrawals are the latest example of an influence campaign on Facebook, a type of activity that the company has been able to disclose more quickly as it discovers fake pages, groups, and accounts. distribute fake content. In August, Facebook said it found new operations of influence originating in Iran and Russia. This month, the company announced that it has identified and removed 559 pages and 251 accounts run by Americans, many of which have been used to co-ordinate false and misleading content.
Several of the accounts identified by Facebook that were removed on Friday had links to the Iranian media and pushed opinions in line with pro-government positions, the company said. The company also said that some of the withdrawn accounts had links to the network of influence discovered in August, but did not have the same link with the Iranian state.
