Google Blocks 39 Channels Linked to Iran’s State Radio and Television on YouTube

Google announced on Thursday that it has identified and blocked 39 channels related to Iran’s state radio and television network on YouTube.

According to Reuters news agency, Google also blocked six blogs on Blogger and 13 other accounts on Google Plus.

According to Google, they were sharing political content in the United States but had concealed their identity and connection to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Organization.

Politico magazine also reported that “Kent Walker,” Google’s vice president of global affairs, announced this news.

This comes as Facebook and Twitter, two major social networks, have recently announced that they blocked hundreds of pages and user accounts linked to Iran.

The action by these two major social networks is part of the companies’ ongoing efforts to make fundamental reforms in cybersecurity.

Facebook announced on Tuesday evening that it had deleted 652 pages on the social network because they targeted people in the Middle East, Latin America, Britain, and the United States. Facebook stated the reason for its action as “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote on Thursday in a tweet about this, noting that the connection between these networks and Iranian state media is verifiable.

Some websites active in the cybersecurity field point to Facebook pages that have been engaged in advertising campaigns against Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has blocked both Facebook and Twitter social networks; however, in addition to official bodies, groups affiliated with the Iranian regime maintain an active presence on these social networks.

Facebook says the Islamic Republic of Iran has created some of these “fake” pages since 2011, and the Iranian state media and Iran’s armed forces intelligence were involved in their creation. One of these pages is called “Liberty Front Press” or “Libertarian Front Press,” which was created by the “Press TV” network, the English-language media arm of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Organization, which broadcasts its news outside of Iran.

Concurrent with Facebook’s action, Twitter also announced that it had closed approximately 300 user accounts that, according to the company, had engaged in coordinated manipulation.

Twitter’s official security account clearly mentioned Iran in relation to these accounts:

Working with our industry peers today, we have suspended 284 accounts from Twitter for engaging in coordinated manipulation. Based on our existing analysis, it appears many of these accounts originated from Iran.

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) August 22, 2018

Since the U.S. presidential election and Facebook’s role in influencing voters, the company has announced its intention to make fundamental reforms to prevent election interference and political activities.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday that it is important for Facebook to develop its tools to combat suspicious content while simultaneously working with law enforcement, governments, and other countries to exchange information.

Iran, along with Russia and China, is considered among the cyber threats to the United States.

Source: Voice of America