{"id":227264,"date":"2020-10-04T19:13:39","date_gmt":"2020-10-04T18:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=227264"},"modified":"2023-01-26T04:06:52","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T03:06:52","slug":"iran-linked-twitter-accounts-and-the-regime-talking-points-against-the-mek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/iran-linked-twitter-accounts-and-the-regime-talking-points-against-the-mek\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran-Linked Twitter Accounts, and the Regime Talking Points Against the MEK"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Irantwittercampaign\"<\/p>\n

Twitter announced on Wednesday that it had removed approximately 130 accounts<\/a> that apparently originated in Iran and were attempting to disrupt conversation surrounding the first US presidential debate. The takedown is indicative of an ongoing trend of Iran\u2019s regime use of social media disinformation tactics, and how Iran\u2019s lobbyists in the West are misusing the social media to spread the regime\u2019s talking points.<\/p>\n

In February of this year, it was reported that Facebook, like the recent action by Twitter, had removed hundreds of deceptive accounts that were linked to Iran and other countries.<\/p>\n

Takedowns by both Twitter and Facebook have been a semi-regular occurrence for several years. The current persistence of that phenomenon is a sign of how difficult the problem is to manage since it means that bots and trolls have rebounded even after millions of those accounts were deleted from Twitter in a far-reaching sweep of the platform in May and June of 2018. And the difficulty is arguably compounded by the impact that false and misleading accounts have beyond their immediate interactions.<\/p>\n

Since the 2018 sweep, Twitter and Facebook have made several further announcements regarding the deletion of accounts associated with Iran, and a handful of other nations. In some cases, the accompanying media reports indicated that before being identified as fake, some of the deleted accounts managed to get their content published in various local news outlets. This introduces the potential for that same content to be cited in other outlets with directly referencing accounts that have since been exposed as illegitimate.<\/p>\n

This organic distribution of manufactured talking points is a tactic that Iranian propagandists have reportedly used to their own advantage. Critics of the Iranian regime, including the main democratic opposition the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI-MEK)<\/a>, have long warned about the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) exerting influence over Western media through its own agents and a \u201cnetwork of friendly journalists.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Iran's disinformation campaign against the MEK via 'friendly journalists'<\/div><\/div>
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