Facebook uncovers more influence campaigns, and they’re not just from Russia
Facebook has closed down more than 600 accounts and pages due to malicious activity it has linked to the Russian military and Iran in yet more instances of foreign actors infiltrating the social network to spread propaganda.
On Tuesday night, Facebook convened a call with media headed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg to outline the new cases of “inauthentic” activity–accounts that conceal their true identity usually in order to influence the online discussion around politics and social causes.
Cyber security firm FireEye, which worked with the social network to investigate some of the fraudulent activity, said in a blog post that “it’s aimed at audiences in the U.S., U.K., Latin America, and the Middle East. This operation is leveraging a network of inauthentic news sites and clusters of associated accounts across multiple social media platforms to promote political narratives in line with Iranian interests.”
