![\"Iran:](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/08\/Iran-The-Latest-Regime-Propagating-Fake-News.jpg\" "\\"Iran-The-Latest-Regime-Propagating-Fake-News\\"")
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By Staff Writer<\/p>\n
The concept of fake news, brought into the spotlight by U.S. President Donald Trump, is now being applied to Iran. Facebook announced that it has removed more than 600 accounts, groups and pages that are linked to a propaganda operation in Iran.<\/p>\n
It has been said that the main aim of the disinformation campaign is to circulate fake news against Israel and Saudi Arabia. The campaign was aimed towards numerous countries including The United States, the United Kingdom and several countries in the Middle East and Latin America.<\/p>\n
Social media group Twitter also said that it had pinpointed a number of fake accounts coming from Iran. Almost 300 Twitter accounts have been suspended \u201cfor engaging in coordinated manipulation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Campaigns like this can be very persuasive and it has been claimed that the result of the U.S. election was affected by such campaigns.
Iran, from its position of weakness, is trying to shape political discourse abroad through the generation of fake new articles, fabricated and deceiving videos, inaccurate portrayals of events, and so on. It is deliberately attempting to mislead users. The sole purpose is to advance the Iranian regime\u2019s own interests.<\/p>\n
The Iranian regime is no stranger to misinformation campaigns and it comes as no surprise that it has evolved to social media. It is arguably the most influential of all platforms and it certainly guarantees a large audience. According to Facebook, Iran\u2019s campaign had gathered more than a million followers.<\/p>\n
CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, said that it removed hundreds of pages because of \u201cnetworks of accounts that were misleading people about who they were and what they were doing\u201d. He added: \u201cWe ban this kind of behavior because authenticity matters. People need to be able to trust the connections they make on Facebook.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s tactics are evolving and the threat posed by such misinformation campaigns is real.<\/p>\n
Expert in the field, Dr. Johannes Ullrich from the SANS Institute, said that very little action can be taken with regards to preventing \u201cnation-state actors from attempting influence operations\u201d, but added that the sooner their intentions are discovered, the easier it is to limit the influence and damage.<\/p>\n
However, since the scandal regarding the U.S. elections, social media firms have been subject to much criticism and it is their best interests to scrutinise the information that is being placed on their platforms. Zuckerberg confirmed that it has taken increased measures to \u201cimprove safety, security and privacy\u201d and in particular to \u201cdefend against these coordinated and inauthentic campaigns\u201d.<\/p>\n