From CNET: Facebook has identified two separate influence campaigns on its platform, one originating in Iran and the other in Russia.
The social network said Tuesday it took down 652 "inauthentic" pages, groups and accounts that were part of a coordinated campaign coming from Iran. The effort targeted people in the Middle East, Latin America, UK and US, Facebook said. The campaign centered on a network called the Liberty Front Press, which claimed to be an independent Iranian media organization but was actually affiliated with Iranian state media.
"These were networks of accounts that were misleading people about who they were and what they were doing," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a conference call. "Authenticity matters and people need to be able to trust the connections they make on Facebook."
Cybersecurity firm FireEye, which tipped off Facebook to the existence of the campaigns in July, said in an initial analysis that the activity appears to be designed to "promote Iranian political interests, including anti-Saudi, anti-Israeli, and pro-Palestinian themes, as well as to promote support for specific U.S. policies favorable to Iran." FireEye's analysis added that the effort included "significant" anti-Donald Trump messages.
"However, it is important to note that the activity does not appear to have been specifically designed to influence the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, as it extends well beyond U.S. audiences and U.S. politics," FireEye said.
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