Facebook And Twitter Begin Removing Accounts That Criticise Saudi Arabia
The new purge comes following the leak of a confidential 49-page memo
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As Facebook and Twitters' censorship purge continues, the tech giant has now begun removing hundreds of accounts that dare to criticise Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Accounts were also removed from pages tied to Iranian actors that a cybersecurity claimed where promoting Iran's geopolitical agenda around the world.
The new purge comes following the leak of a confidential 49-page memo revealing the plan to defeat Trump by eliminating "right-wing propaganda and fake news."
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The Mirror reports: The campaign was aimed at users in the United States, Britain, Latin America and the Middle East up through this month, according to an analysis by the cybersecurity company FireEye Inc, which first spotted the behavior.
Russia has been linked to similar online influence campaigns, including an effort to sow political divisions among U.S. voters, but FireEye said its findings showed that the same tactics are now being used for different aims.
Facebook shares suffer record fall losing £91 BILLION in value leaving Mark Zuckerberg's fortune down £12.78 billion U.S. lawmakers echoed the sentiment.
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"It really shows it's not just Russia that engages in this type of activity," Lee Foster, an information operations analyst with FireEye, told Reuters.
The firm said the Iranian activity included "anti-Saudi, anti-Israeli, and pro-Palestinian themes" and advocacy of policies favorable to Iran such as the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal.
The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.
The finding comes as concerns are rising about foreign attempts to disrupt the U.S. midterm election in November.
Microsoft on Monday said that hackers linked to the Russian government sought to steal email login credentials from U.S. politicians and think tanks.
FireEye said the Iranian activity did not appear "dedicated" to influencing the upcoming election, though some of the posts aimed at U.S. users did adopt "left-leaning identities" and took stances against President Donald Trump.
That activity "could suggest a more active attempt to influence domestic U.S. political discourse" is forthcoming, Foster said, but "we just haven't seen that yet."
