Twitter · Instagram · Facebook and other SNS and found out the public opinion guiding strategy utilizing fake news site

by Vsevolod Serbin

It has become apparent that Iran has deployed at least since 2017, a strategy to guide public opinion to themselves by using SNS such as Twitter and a site that posts fake news articles It was. Following this news, deleting and freezing accounts that were used for operations on Twitter · Instagram · Facebook are done.

Suspected Iranian Influence Operation Leverages Network of Inauthentic News Sites & Social Media Targeting Audiences in US, UK, Latin America, Middle East | FireEye Inc
https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2018/08/suspected-iranian-influence-operation.html

This move was reported by FireEyes, a security company. According to FireEyes research team, the two sites that were the center of activities are "Liberty Front Press" and "Instituto Manquehue". Posted on topics on anti-Saudi Arabia, anti-Israeli / parental Palestine, and topics on Iran's favorable policies, such as the US and Iran's comprehensive collaborative work plan (JCPOA), in the United States, the UK, Latin America and the Middle East It has been. Although these policies have been adopted as much as possible to hide who the operator is, it turned out that the registered e-mail address was found to be related to web designers living in Tehran and Iranian sites Thing.

In addition, it seems that there are multiple Twitter accounts related to the site, and it was confirmed that they were registered with a telephone number starting from Iran's country code "98".

On Facebook that received the report, confirm that 652 pages, accounts, and groups are based on the "strategy" together with Facebook and Instagram and delete it.

Taking Down More Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior | Facebook Newsroom
https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/08/more-coordinated-inauthentic-behavior/

Twitter also takes freeze measures as 284 accounts fall under this case.

Based on our existing analysis, we are suspended from 284 accounts from Twitter for engaging in coordinated manipulation.

- Twitter Safety (@ TwitterSafety) August 22, 2018

According to FireEyes, this case is that the scale of activities is bigger than "Russian gate" over the 2016 US presidential election . Although the discovery overlapped with the timing of the midterm election , which is just in the middle of the presidential term, it is not aimed at the influence on elections like "Russia Gate", it has a wider range of impact, so in FireEyes We are calling for attention.