Facebook has removed 82 Iranian pages, groups and accounts from its social networks Facebook and Instagram. The pages and accounts were run from Iran and posted misleading messages, writes Facebook on his website.
The messages focused on users in the United States and the United Kingdom. This involves 30 pages, 33 Facebook accounts, 3 Facebook groups and 16 accounts on Instagram.
On Facebook, the people behind the Iranian accounts and pages pretended to be American or British citizens. In particular, reports were posted on politically charged issues such as racism and immigration.
Facebook took action because of the upcoming elections in the United States. In total, at least one million accounts followed one of these pages. About 25,000 people were, according to Facebook, affiliated with one of the groups and over 28,000 accounts followed the misleading Instagram accounts.
Facebook has not found any links with the Iranian authorities. It is unknown who created the accounts and pages.
In August, Facebook collected 652 pages, groups and accounts from Facebook and Instagram. They placed misleading messages from Iran and Russia and focused on the US, the UK, the Middle East and South America.
