Meta Removes Iran-based Fake Accounts

A 3D printed Facebook's new rebrand logo Meta is placed on laptop keyboard in this illustration taken on November 2, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
A 3D printed Facebook's new rebrand logo Meta is placed on laptop keyboard in this illustration taken on November 2, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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Meta Removes Iran-based Fake Accounts

A 3D printed Facebook's new rebrand logo Meta is placed on laptop keyboard in this illustration taken on November 2, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
A 3D printed Facebook's new rebrand logo Meta is placed on laptop keyboard in this illustration taken on November 2, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Facebook parent Meta Platforms removed a network of fake accounts that originated in Iran and targeted Instagram users in Scotland with content supporting Scottish independence, the company's investigators said on Thursday.

The network used fake accounts to pose as locals in England and Scotland, posting photos and memes about current events and criticism of the United Kingdom's government, Reuters quoted Meta as saying.

The accounts organized their content around common hashtags promoting the cause, though they at times misspelled them, the company said. The accounts also posted about football and UK cities, likely to make the fictitious personas seem more authentic.

Some of the fake accounts used profile pictures likely created through AI techniques, while others used photos of media personalities and celebrities from the UK and Iraq as profile pictures, Meta said.

Meta said its investigation found links to individuals in Iran, including people with a background in teaching English as a foreign language.

It said the operation had some connections with a small Iran-based network it previously removed in December 2020, which mostly targeted Arabic, French and English-speaking audiences using fake accounts, but did not provide further details on who might be behind the activity.

"We've seen a range of operations coming from Iran over the last few years," said Ben Nimmo, Meta's global threat intelligence lead for influence operations, in a press briefing.

"It's not a monolithic environment."

The social media company said it had removed eight Facebook accounts and 126 Instagram accounts as part of this latest network in December for violating its rules against coordinated inauthentic behavior.



Landmine Victims Gather to Protest US Decision to Supply Ukraine

 Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Landmine Victims Gather to Protest US Decision to Supply Ukraine

 Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)

Landmine victims from across the world gathered at a conference in Cambodia on Tuesday to protest the United States' decision to give landmines to Ukraine, with Kyiv's delegation expected to report at the meet.

More than 100 protesters lined the walkway taken by delegates to the conference venue in Siem Reap where countries are reviewing progress on the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty.

"Look what antipersonnel landmines will do to your people," read one placard held by two landmine victims.

Alex Munyambabazi, who lost a leg to a landmine in northern Uganda in 2005, said he "condemned" the decision by the US to supply antipersonnel mines to Kyiv as it battles Russian forces.

"We are tired. We don't want to see any more victims like me, we don't want to see any more suffering," he told AFP.

"Every landmine planted is a child, a civilian, a woman, who is just waiting for their legs to be blown off, for his life to be taken.

"I am here to say we don't want any more victims. No excuses, no exceptions."

Washington's announcement last week that it would send anti-personnel landmines to Kyiv was immediately criticized by human rights campaigners.

Ukraine is a signature to the treaty. The United States and Russia are not.

Ukraine using the US mines would be in "blatant disregard for their obligations under the mine ban treaty," said Tamar Gabelnick, director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

"These weapons have no place in today´s warfare," she told AFP.

"[Ukraine's] people have suffered long enough from the horrors of these weapons."

A Ukrainian delegation was present at the conference on Tuesday, and it was expected to present its report on progress in clearing mines on its territory.