Facebook and Twitter Announce Removal of Hundreds of Accounts Linked to Iran

On Tuesday, August 30, Facebook and Twitter announced the blocking of hundreds of pages and accounts related to Iran. Facebook stated that it had blocked hundreds of pages and accounts linked to Iran and Russia due to 'coordinated unreliable behavior.' In a post, Facebook announced that it had removed 652 pages, groups, and accounts on its platform that targeted people in the Middle East, Latin America, the UK, and the US. The social media platform added that no connection had yet been found between these accounts and pages indicating they acted in a coordinated manner, but they used similar tactics to mislead other users. Reports indicate that this action followed the release of a report by the cybersecurity firm 'FireEye.' Meanwhile, FireEye stated that the network linked to Iranian state media was conducting promotional activities against Saudi Arabia and Israel, and supporting Palestinians and the nuclear agreement. Additionally, Twitter's safety division announced that it had blocked 284 accounts engaged in 'coordinated manipulation.' This social media platform indicated that many of these accounts originated from Iran. Earlier, on August 8, Facebook announced that to counter foreign attempts to interfere in the US elections, it had removed 32 pages and accounts from Facebook and Instagram. The American company also stated that the intent of these pages and accounts was to mislead users and organize rallies before the elections. Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO, stated on Tuesday in a conversation with reporters that it is important for Facebook to develop its tools to combat suspicious content while communicating with law enforcement, governments, and other countries for information exchange. Zuckerberg added that he believes good actions are being taken in both directions. A Facebook spokesperson mentioned that the announcement regarding the removal of these pages and accounts was initially scheduled for Thursday of this week but was made on Tuesday. Last year, Facebook stated that on the eve of the 2016 US presidential elections, a Russian campaign aimed to interfere in those elections by publishing and purchasing advertisements on Facebook. The US Department of Justice confirmed in late July the Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 elections and charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with meddling in the elections. Following this, Washington imposed sanctions against Moscow. Donald Trump, the US President, has acknowledged that Russia interfered in those elections but emphasized that this interference did not affect the election results.