Facebook和Twitter封禁大量涉及伊朗和俄罗斯的虚假账户

Facebook, Twitter Ban Fake Accounts Linked to Iran, Russia

The social media companies Facebook and Twitter announced they have found and banned hundreds of accounts, groups and pages linked to Russia and Iran.

Facebook said Tuesday it removed over 600 pages, groups and accounts linked to Russia and Iran. The accounts, the company said, were involved with “coordinated² inauthentic behavior” that included the sharing of false political material.

Shortly after Facebook’s announcement, Twitter said it had also suspended more than 280 accounts for coordinated disinformation. Many of the removed accounts appeared to have been created in Iran.

Facebook has aimed to improve its security since last year, when it admitted that Russian agents successfully used its services to run political disinformation operations. The efforts were aimed at influencing the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Other social media companies have also increased their security efforts to find fake accounts.

Well-funded efforts

The latest discovery was far larger than the group of fake accounts Facebook reportedly found last month. Facebook removed 32 accounts on Facebook and Instagram in late July that it believed were fake and possibly linked to Russia. Together, the accounts had nearly 300,000 followers³. Their content generally related to U.S. political activity ahead of the midterm elections in November.

However, Facebook said the largest group of fake accounts appeared more interested in influencing U.S. foreign policy and politics in the Middle East.

Facebook said it had not finished its examination of the material. It did not say how or why the state-backed actors were behaving the way they did.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told reporters Tuesday afternoon, “There’s a lot we don’t know yet.”

Facebook said it has informed the American and British governments of the efforts. It also informed the U.S. Treasury⁴ and State departments because of ongoing⁵ sanctions against Iran.

Zuckerberg said, “You’re going to see people try to abuse the services in every way possible ... including now nation states.” He described the campaigns as intelligent and as “well-funded efforts that aren’t going to stop.”

Extending beyond U.S. politics

FireEye is a cybersecurity firm. It informed Facebook of some of latest activity involving Russian- and Iranian-backed accounts. It said that it “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.”

Facebook said its latest action on Tuesday resulted from four investigations⁷. Three involved Iran, and one involved Russia.

The first investigation⁶ centered on a group called “Liberty Front Press” that set up several accounts on Facebook and Instagram. The accounts were followed by 155,000 other accounts. Facebook said the group was linked to Iranian state media, based on website registrations⁸, IP addresses and administrator⁹ accounts.

FireEye called the Liberty Front Press group an influence operation trying to promote Iranian political interests. These include “anti-Saudi, anti-Israeli, and pro-Palestinian themes,” and support for the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal, FireEye said.

President Donald Trump¹⁰ withdrew the United States from the nuclear agreement earlier this year.

FireEye said the group did not appear to be attempting to influence the U.S. midterm elections. But it said that does not necessarily mean these efforts are not happening.

The second group that was investigated also had several accounts and a total of 15,000 followers. The group was linked to “Liberty Front Press” and attempted to access people’s accounts to spread computer viruses. Facebook said it stopped those attempts.

A third group also operating out of Iran had as many as 813,000 followers, and shared political content about the Middle East, Britain and the United States.

In total, the Iranian-linked groups spent about $12,000 in advertising¹¹.

A fourth group, connected to the Russian military, attempted to influence politics in Syria and the Ukraine.

Next month, leaders of Facebook, Google and Twitter will answer questions from the Senate intelligence committee about their efforts to fight political disinformation.

I’m Anna Matteo.

Words in This Story

coordinate¹ - v. to make arrangements so that two or more people or groups of people can work together properly and well?

cybersecurity - n. the state of being protected against the criminal or unauthorized use of electronic data, or the measures taken to achieve this.?

disinformation - n. false information that is given to people in order to make them believe something or to hide the truth

inauthentic - adj. not real, accurate, or sincere ?

IP address - n. a unique string of numbers separated by periods that identifies each computer using the Internet Protocol¹² to communicate over a network.?

sanction - n. an action that is taken or an order that is given to force a country to obey international laws by limiting or stopping trade with that country, by not allowing economic aid for that country

1 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

2 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

3 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

4 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

5 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

6 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

7 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

8 registrations   

n.登记( registration的名词复数 )；登记项目；登记（或注册、挂号）人数；（管风琴）音栓配合（法）

参考例句：

• In addition to the check-in procedures, the room clerks are customarily responsible for recording advance registrations. 除了办理住宿手续外，客房登记员按惯例还负责预约登记。 来自辞典例句
• Be the Elekta expert for products registrations in China. 成为在中国注册产品的医科达公司专家。 来自互联网

9 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

10 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

11 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

12 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。