Facebook parent Meta Platforms said on Thursday that it had taken down a network of phony accounts that started in Iran and targeted Instagram users in Scotland with content advocating Scottish independence.
Some of the fraudulent identities, according to Meta, included profile images that got made using AI techniques. The network used bogus accounts to impersonate locals in England and Scotland, uploading photos and memes about current events and criticism of the UK government. These fraud accounts also used photos of UK and Iraqi media stars and celebrities as profile pictures.
According to the firm, the accounts organized their content around common hashtags that promoted the cause, albeit they occasionally misspelled them. The profile also made posts on football and UK cities, presumably to make the fictitious personas appear live.
Scots chose 55 percent to 45 percent to stay in the United Kingdom in a referendum on independence in 2014. But Brexit and the British government’s handling of the COVID-19 situation have bolstered support for dependence and demands for a second ballot among Scots.
Meta said its research turned several connections to persons in Iran, including people who had previously taught English as a foreign language.
It said the operation had some ties to a tiny Iran-based network it shut down in December 2020, which used bogus accounts to target Arabic, French, and English-speaking audiences. But it didn’t go into depth about who might be behind it.
In a press briefing, Ben Nimmo, Meta’s global threat intelligence head for influence operations, said, “We’ve observed a spectrum of operations coming from Iran over the previous few years.” “It’s not a one-size-fits-all atmosphere.”
In December, the social media giant announced that it had banned eight Facebook accounts and 126 Instagram accounts from the current network for breaking its rules against coordinated inauthentic conduct.
Meta also said in December that it had eliminated a network-based in Mexico that targeted audiences in Honduras, Ecuador, and El Salvador, as well as a network-based in Turkey that targeted persons in Libya.
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