Facebook, Twitter Delete Hundreds of Pages Linked to Iran


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Facebook Inc (FB.O) and Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) have removed hundreds of pages and accounts that could be linked to Iran, the social media giants said in separate statements.

“We’ve removed 652 pages, groups and accounts for coordinated inauthentic behavior that originated in Iran and targeted people across multiple internet services in the Middle East, Latin America, UK and US," Facebook said on Tuesday.

In a separate move, Facebook also announced the removal of pages that, according to the US government, might be linked to Russian intelligence, according to the Sputnik.

"Finally, we’ve removed pages, groups and accounts that can be linked to sources the US government has previously identified as Russian military intelligence services. This is unrelated to the activities we found in Iran," the social media giant said.

The social media platform Twitter also removed more than 280 accounts for coordinated manipulation including a number that originated from Iran, according to the company's statement.

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