Facebook has removed fake pro-Corbyn and anti-Brexit accounts linked to Iran amid a purge of hundreds of pages falsely posing as news organisations or grassroots activists in Britain. Fake accounts called “The British Left” and “Free Scotland 2014” were among a list of 652 pages, groups and accounts shut down by the social media company, which found they were “distinct campaigns” for “coordinated inauthentic behaviour”. On Wednesday, Facebook published extracts from the accounts which included praise for Jeremy Corbyn and satirical images mocking Brexit, adding that the network appeared to be part of an entity known as "Liberty Front Press" which was linked with “Iranian state media”. One image posted by The British Left referenced Jeremy Corbyn having the “fewest expenses of any MP”, while another showed a series of “Brexit stamps” portraying an English longbowmen turning the arrow on himself and a man shooting himself in the foot with a pistol. In an online blog, Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, said that one part of the network, “Quest 4 Truth”, had masqueraded as an independent news organisation but “is in fact linked to" an Iranian state media channel. Examples provided by Facebook from the page called 'The British Left' Mr Gleicher added that from 2017 onwards, the channels “increased their focus on the UK and the US”, and typically “posed as news and civil society organisations”. Facebook’s investigation, which was prompted after it received a tip-off from the cybersecurity firm FireEye, found that the Iranian network of accounts also engaged in “traditional cybersecurity attacks” such as hacking into people’s accounts and spreading malware. The Iranian effort dated to 2011 and had also spread to Facebook’s sister site, Instagram, as well as Twitter and Youtube. The fake Iranian accounts bought $ 6,000 worth of adverts on Facebook and used it to organise events. Fake news | What exactly is it – and how can you spot it? A pro-Scottish independence page, called “Free Scotland 2014”, posted images mocking the Queen and another linking Boris Johnson to Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s former chief strategist. Mr Gleischer said website data linked 74 pages, 70 accounts and three groups which targeted UK and US politics on Facebook, as well as 76 Instagram accounts, to Iran's state media. Facebook has shared its finding with the US and UK governments and confirmed it would be making changes to ensure it was able to “better detect people” attempting to create similar pages in the future. In a press conference last night, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, said the network of accounts “were misleading people about who they were and what they were doing”, adding that it was imperative that users were “able to trust the connections” they make on the site. Posts from the Free Scotland page Mr Gleicher added: “We saw content targeting people across multiple Internet platforms in the Middle East, the US, the UK, and Latin America. “Our investigation, building off of this tip from FireEye, was able to expand this initial network of assets linked to Liberty Front Press and link it to Iranian state media. “In total, we found 74 Pages, 70 accounts, and three Groups on Facebook, as well as 76 accounts on Instagram that were associated with Liberty Front Press. “What we're seeing here is a coordinated network, but the assets themselves were not presenting a coordinated front in terms of how they identified themselves.” FireEye plans to release a full report into the activity but has not specified a date.
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Indonesia has cracked down on “fake news” about its deadly quake-tsunami disaster, with police arresting nine people for spreading hoaxes in a bid to prevent further panic spreading among survivors. Another Facebook post used a photo of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami aftermath to depict what it claimed was a scene from the seaside city of Palu. Setyo Wasisto, Indonesia’s national police spokesman, told Kompas TV on Thursday that nine people had been arrested on suspicion of spreading false news.
Facial recognition technology was credited with the arrest this week of a man attempting to use a fake passport to enter the United States at Washington’s Dulles airport, officials said. Officials said that on the third day of deployment of the new technology, border agents were able to determine that the man was using a fake French passport. US Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department of Homeland Security, said Dulles is one of 14 “early adopter airports” using facial recognition technology for the entry process, and began deploying it Monday.
