Facebook and Twitter Remove Thousands of Fake Accounts Linked to Iran

Facebook and Twitter have once again announced the removal of fake accounts linked to Iran. It is reported that Iran used these fake accounts to conduct political propaganda in Arabic and English against Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United States.

Facebook has again announced the blocking of fake accounts believed to be linked to the Iranian government and the country’s cyber army. Twitter has also announced that it has removed fake user accounts directed by the Iranian government from access.

German news agency (dpa) reported on Wednesday, June 8 (May 29) from Los Angeles about the blocking of a number of fake accounts linked to Iran.

The report states that dozens of fake accounts, suspicious personal and group pages belonging to Iran have been deleted.

This is not the first time that Facebook and Twitter have removed fake user accounts linked to the Iranian government.

Facebook officials announced that they have blocked 51 fake accounts, 36 pages, seven groups, and three Instagram accounts.

This comes as the French news agency reported from San Francisco about the removal of approximately 2,800 suspicious user accounts from the Twitter network.

It is said that Twitter blocked these user accounts in early May, but the news was made public on Tuesday, May 28 by the cybersecurity company “FireEye.”

Advertising Campaign

According to a statement issued by the head of the cybersecurity department of Facebook, unidentified individuals using these fake accounts and pages had launched an advertising campaign against Israel and Saudi Arabia and in support of Palestinians.

The statement also notes that the language used on these pages and fake accounts was English and Arabic. On some pages, political issues related to the United States and Britain were also raised.

Unidentified individuals operating these fake accounts had claimed to be European or American citizens and journalists. They even provided information to European and American media outlets for publication and circulation.

The head of Facebook’s cybersecurity department said that Facebook blocked approximately 365 fake user accounts and hundreds of suspicious pages as well as Instagram user accounts linked to Iran in January of this year.

Source: DW