Facebook, Twitter remove hundreds of accounts tied to 'coordinated influence' campaign

Facebook announced it had removed 652 pages, groups and accounts for what the company calls "coordinated inauthentic behavior."

Facebook and Twitter announced late Tuesday that hundreds of accounts tied to an influence operation have been removed as part of the companies’ heightened efforts to root out bad actors from the social media networks.

In a blog post, Facebook announced it had removed 652 pages, groups and accounts for what the company calls “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”

The accounts were linked to a group known as “Liberty Front Press,” an effort that originated in Iran. Working with cybersecurity firm FireEye, Facebook discovered the group was primarily posting political content focused on the Middle East, as well as the U.K., U.S., and Latin America. Beginning in 2017, its focus on the U.K. and U.S. increased.

“The activity we have uncovered highlights that multiple actors continue to engage in and experiment with online, social media-driven influence operations as a means of shaping political discourse,” an assessment from FireEye read. “The activity we have uncovered highlights that multiple actors continue to engage in and experiment with online, social media-driven influence operations as a means of shaping political discourse.”

During the course of the investigation into Liberty Front Press, Facebook also removed a number of accounts tied to Russian intelligence. The removal is tied to content that has been identified for covertly spreading content tied to political discourse surrounding Syria and Ukraine.

Facebook has found no evidence that the two campaigns are connected.

Shortly after Facebook’s blog post was made public, Twitter announced that it had suspended 284 accounts for “coordinated manipulation.”

https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1032055163098460160

Facebook took similar action last month when it removed a number of accounts looking to provoke discord around divisive issues in U.S. politics.

Eliminating this behavior has been top of mind for both the social media companies and government officials since it was uncovered that Russia leveraged the platforms in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. The Senate Intelligence Committee will be holding a hearing Sept. 5, in which committee members will address efforts by Facebook, Twitter, and Google to curb influence campaigns aimed at disrupting the midterm elections.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the committee’s top Democrat, said Facebook’s actions show influence campaigns are not solely a Russian tactic.

“I’ve been saying for months that there’s no way the problem of social media manipulation is limited to a single troll farm in St. Petersburg, and that fact is now beyond a doubt,” Warner said. “We also learned today that the Iranians are now following the Kremlin’s playbook from 2016. While I’m encouraged to see Facebook taking steps to rid their platforms of these bad actors, there’s clearly more work to be done.”

Researchers say Israeli government likely behind AI-generated disinfo campaign in Iran

The group leveraged dozens of social media accounts and “routinely used” AI-generated imagery and video to stoke unrest among Iran’s population, according to Citizen Lab. 

The post-election threats you need to prepare for, according to experts

OpenAI says it has disrupted 20-plus foreign influence networks in past year

Government

• FBI officials say AI is bolstering adversaries, emphasizing need to focus on cyber basics, patching

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• Jail time for Maine child in 764 marks turning point in federal law enforcement

Technology

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

• The Collective Cyber Defense letter wrote your next vendor questionnaire

Threats

• Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

• Dogged Russia-based botnet dismantled after 23-year run

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure