Facebook and Twitter remove accounts linked to Russia and Iran

Facebook announced Tuesday it had removed 652 fake accounts, pages, and groups linked to Russia and Iran because of “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” including sharing political material. Twitter also suspended 284 accounts, many of them originating from Iran, for what it called “coordinated manipulation.” The actions taken by these two social media giants came a day after Microsoft said Russian hackers tried to spoof the websites of two conservative think tanks in a possible espionage campaign.

Facebook said it has informed the U.S. and U.K. governments of the activity and notified the U.S. Treasury and State Departments because of U.S. sanctions on Iran. In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the activity, which was discovered by the FireEye cybersecurity company, as “sophisticated and well-funded,” adding, “You’re going to see people trying to abuse the services in every way possible … including nation states.”

FireEye noted that the activity “does not appear to have been specifically designed to influence the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, as it extends well beyond U.S. audiences and U.S. politics.”