Breaking: Facebook says it has banned a network of two dozen fake pages and accounts linked to Vietamese telco Viettel, its Myanmar Mytel franchise, and a marketing firm in one of the platform's first takedowns of "commercial disinformation". Story here https://t.co/bNYra9Z6Az
— John Reed (@JohnReedwrites) February 12, 2020
Important ?on our analysis of @Facebook assets taken down from #Myanmar ⬇️
— DFRLab (@DFRLab) February 12, 2020
Go more in-depth here: https://t.co/EMVWEp810v https://t.co/WXJJdctEEC
Today, Facebook took action against a set of 11 social accounts that they shared with us and, upon our independent review, we assessed were related to the broader Distinguished Impersonator activity set we’ve been tracking.
— FireEye (@FireEye) February 12, 2020
>> Learn more: https://t.co/SwGh8u6Gxb pic.twitter.com/cKu0cTDTxc
NEW: Facebook disables Russian and Iranian efforts to manipulate users, raising new 2020 election fears. Lots of interesting tidbits about tactics in this AM's announcement. https://t.co/oDKF0id2Gh
— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) February 12, 2020
To my eye, the most relevant part of this report is the Russia campaign (caveat: it did target Ukraine, so it's not in current use in the US *as far as we know*, but it COULD happen in the US ahead of 2020).
— Davey Alba (@daveyalba) February 12, 2020
It shows Russia's ever-evolving tactics https://t.co/3uZBIe48iy
Notable that in addition to posting disinfo/propaganda both Iranian and Russian operations attempted to contact people privately. I suspect we’ll be seeing more of this strategy. https://t.co/eTOhUAljbF pic.twitter.com/zOVs50IOdw
— Jane Lytvynenko ??♀️??♀️??♀️ (@JaneLytv) February 12, 2020
great now do politicians https://t.co/3LwfwiMmPz
— Robin Wauters (@robinwauters) February 12, 2020
NEW: Facebook disinformation news. It disables a small Iran-based effort to target U.S., a Russia-liked campaign against Ukraine and a wild situation in Myanmar involving a telecom company that sought to undermine its competitors https://t.co/oDKF0id2Gh
— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) February 12, 2020
BREAKING: Facebook has alleged that one of south-east Asia’s biggest telecoms providers used tactics typical of Russian trolls to discredit rivals.
— Hannah Murphy (@MsHannahMurphy) February 12, 2020
It's one of FB's first takedowns of "commercial disinformation", as opposed to political disinformation.https://t.co/8P1SHlZroj
FireEye has just published a report today on an Iranian influence op happening on Twitter and Facebook: https://t.co/zAEQ9GDTU8
— Catalin Cimpanu (@campuscodi) February 12, 2020
Facebook removed the accounts. See here: https://t.co/BcaazpLyL4 pic.twitter.com/EzBUWxuwLy
.@Facebook removed a network of accounts, Pages and Groups for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a government or foreign actor. The network originated in Russia and primarily targeted Ukraine and its neighboring countries https://t.co/F7ahOxj1Rh
— Stop Fake (@StopFakingNews) February 12, 2020
Facebook just announced another takedown set:
— Ben Nimmo (@benimmo) February 12, 2020
- Russia: military intel targeting Ukraine and neighbourhood;
- Iran: 11 assets targeting US;
- Myanmar: telecoms providers targeting competitors. @Graphika_NYC report on the Russian op to follow.https://t.co/Fj8BfIONqK
Facebook removes a network of 78 accounts, 11 Pages, 29 Groups & 4 Instagram accounts for violating FB policy against foreign or gov interference. The activity originated in Russia & linked to RU military intel & focused on Ukraine & neighboring countrieshttps://t.co/sbsrmcmXjy
— Tat Atfender (@TatAtfender) February 12, 2020
Facebook: we removed 78 Facebook accounts, 11 Pages, 29 Groups and 4 Instagram accounts for violating our policy against foreign or government interference. This activity originated in Russia and focused primarily on Ukraine and neighboring countries. https://t.co/534CcgN8S1
— Sergiy Kyslytsya (@SergiyKyslytsya) February 12, 2020
Facebook announced that they removed more fake accounts, pages and groups - some of them with ties to Russian military intelligence services. There are also accounts from Vietnam, Iran and Myanmar.https://t.co/2Fc8qas5dm
— Yevgeniy Golovchenko (@Golovchenko_Yev) February 12, 2020
Notable that in addition to posting disinfo/propaganda both Iranian and Russian operations attempted to contact people privately. I suspect we’ll be seeing more of this strategy. https://t.co/eTOhUAljbF pic.twitter.com/zOVs50IOdw
— Jane Lytvynenko ??♀️??♀️??♀️ (@JaneLytv) February 12, 2020
Credit goes to @fbsecurity for initially detecting the operation on their platform and taking action: https://t.co/vc6mW5w9x0 ; loads of hard work on everyone's end to get to the bottom of this one.
— Camille François (@camillefrancois) February 12, 2020
Telcom companies are using Facebook fake news against each other (by @rachelkaser) https://t.co/O65AMYj3Os
— TNW (@thenextweb) February 12, 2020
Interesting distinction between between Iranian and Russian inauthentic digital influence campaigns highlighted in @DFRLab’s new report. Iranian efforts are more digital diplomacy than disinformation. https://t.co/ALQES0H8lI pic.twitter.com/Dqz6915nVM
— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) February 12, 2020
The Iran related material in @Facebook’s latest takedown seems to be more of what we’ve seen before: an effort to present and persuade Iran’s stances internationally.
— Graham Brookie (@GrahamBrookie) February 12, 2020
Good work on this has been done by @FireEye, and—if I may—@DFRLab.
4/https://t.co/k9dNlP12Gc
New @DFRLab report by @etbrooking and @KianpourWorld on #Iran and its digital influence operations is now out: https://t.co/UJeK4gPMPr
— Andy Carvin (@acarvin) February 12, 2020
This morning, social media platforms removed more assets from Iran (@Facebook announced).
— Graham Brookie (@GrahamBrookie) February 12, 2020
Coincidentally, we released a report 8 months in the making on what we know about Iranian influence & information efforts.
We’re talking about it live!https://t.co/k9dNlP12Gc https://t.co/QCfcnC2wIO
New report on Iranian digital influence efforts out @DFRLab @AtlanticCouncil - by @etbrooking @KianpourWorld - check it out here: https://t.co/VsLXNyIR8A
— Justin Sherman (@jshermcyber) February 12, 2020
LIVE: @etbrooking and @kianpourworld talk about their definitive report on #Iran's #digital influence operations Here’s the report: https://t.co/tFK1IwkBoo https://t.co/bV4EzInDlH
— DFRLab (@DFRLab) February 12, 2020
For Iran, information dominance represents a central focus of both foreign and domestic policy. Should the information conflict be lost, many Iranian officials believe the collapse of the state will soon follow. https://t.co/Du3G4nXlK2 via @AtlanticCouncil
— 780th Military Intelligence Brigade (Cyber) (@780thC) February 12, 2020
Iranian Digital Influence Efforts: Guerrilla Broadcasting for the Twenty-First Century https://t.co/yIHBr9M4j1
— Matthew Levitt (@Levitt_Matt) February 12, 2020
For more on the @Facebook #Vietnam takedown, here's @jean_leroux of @DFRLab.
— Ben Nimmo (@benimmo) February 12, 2020
An info op apparently run by commercial entities to target rivals. You knew it was going to happen. https://t.co/LOtC6RM2AI
Just now, @fbnewsroom has announced it shut down three separate networks engaged in inauthentic behaviour on its platform.@DFRLab had an opportunity to gauge their behaviour before Facebook shut them down, and this is what we found:https://t.co/L2YgrcDSka
— Ad Homonym (@jean_leroux) February 12, 2020
Out of this takedown, the thing that will get the least attention but shows one of the newest tactics and most aggressive commercially driven operations we’ve seen is the set from #Myanmar. @DFRLab’s exclusive, independent report here.
— Graham Brookie (@GrahamBrookie) February 12, 2020
5/https://t.co/hHYl6vz9oy
Important ?on our analysis of @Facebook assets taken down from #Myanmar ⬇️
— DFRLab (@DFRLab) February 12, 2020
Go more in-depth here: https://t.co/EMVWEp810v https://t.co/WXJJdctEEC
Facebook shut down commercial disinformation network based in Myanmar and Vietnam by @jean_leroux https://t.co/WwqB6RW231
— Kanishk Karan (@KaranKanishk) February 12, 2020
The DFRLab’s @jean_leroux analyzed some assets removed by @facebook for coordinating commercial #disinformation for the benefit of MyTel, a telecom company indirectly owned by the military in #Myanmar and #Vietnam.https://t.co/EMVWEp810v
— DFRLab (@DFRLab) February 12, 2020
This campaign by Myanmar-military tied telecoms spreading disinfo is blowing my mind. Great breakdown of the network from @DFRLab: https://t.co/XcKorbztdL pic.twitter.com/7TmW6cQpxo
— Jane Lytvynenko ??♀️??♀️??♀️ (@JaneLytv) February 12, 2020
Here's our independent analysis of the case in #Myanmar and #Vietnam: https://t.co/EMVWEp810v https://t.co/aIvE3sjLP4
— DFRLab (@DFRLab) February 12, 2020
Fake Facebook pages tied to a mobile company in Myanmar posting misinformation about a competitor is just...
— Shira Ovide (@ShiraOvide) February 12, 2020
Exhaustinghttps://t.co/bPqgxkHO2x pic.twitter.com/7Yoamcopgf
The disclosures also include details about how some accounts directly messaged other, legitimate users in an attempt to boost their own credibility.
— Lake Lady (@MyLakeLady) February 12, 2020
* Philhttps://t.co/Uz2t2NUyfS
BREAKING: Facebook has alleged that one of south-east Asia’s biggest telecoms providers used tactics typical of Russian trolls to discredit rivals.
— Hannah Murphy (@MsHannahMurphy) February 12, 2020
It's one of FB's first takedowns of "commercial disinformation", as opposed to political disinformation.https://t.co/8P1SHlZroj
FT: "Facebook has alleged that one of south-east Asia’s biggest telecoms providers used tactics typical of Russian trolls to discredit rivals, in one of the first takedowns of so-called commercial disinformation from its platform.” https://t.co/yftz9Fwxap
— Chris Hoofnagle (@hoofnagle) February 12, 2020
Facebook alleges telcos used disinformation tactics https://t.co/GmH12bVOEK
— Financial Times (@FT) February 12, 2020
The third operation was different — individuals linked to corporate entities using classic IO techniques to criticize their competitors. Fits in with other operations we’ve disrupted from corporate actors and PR agencies around the world. https://t.co/eFREMJ58TG
— Nathaniel Gleicher (@ngleicher) February 12, 2020
https://t.co/zVD5gXcyLa あらまぁ。ロシアもイランもベトナムもミャンマーもこういうことしてるのは分かってたけど、ベトナムのViettel、ミャンマーのMytel、PR会社のGapit Communicationsが名指しされてる
— ぱおぱお (@paopao0128) February 13, 2020
Facebook removed CIB RU network targeting Ukraine with links to RU military intelligence service. Writing about public figures in Ukraine, ethnic tensions in Crimea, #MH17 https://t.co/CwWy3DJ9cv
— Kateryna_Kruk (@Kateryna_Kruk) February 12, 2020
Facebook have found accounts linked to military owned Mytel engaged in dirty tricks and false information, but haven't shut pages by Mytel, which helps fund genocide, off of Facebook. https://t.co/mGcIJfwKJU
— Mark Farmaner (@MarkFarmaner) February 12, 2020
Telcom companies are using Facebook fake news against each other (by @rachelkaser) https://t.co/hGw7oY4Cd7
— TNW (@thenextweb) February 13, 2020
Telcom companies are using Facebook fake news against each other (by @rachelkaser) https://t.co/FfV9DWpPBv
— TNW (@thenextweb) February 13, 2020
Following the #US assassination of Iranian Major Gen. Qasem #Soleimani and a sharp escalation in US #Iran tensions, this paper from the @AtlanticCouncil is a milestone to understand the perspective, methods, and intent of Iranian influence efforts. https://t.co/U3lHXkC9m1
— Stefano Mele (@MeleStefano) February 13, 2020
We live largely online & everyone should be cognizant of what they’re reading & watching, where it’s coming from and why. Please have a look at my @atlanticcouncil report with @etbrooking (includes lots of pictures!) on #Iran’s digital influence ops https://t.co/YnO3EMVuPC pic.twitter.com/fxahKtZmzF
— Suzanne Kianpour (@KianpourWorld) February 12, 2020
In one of the first takedowns of so-called commercial disinformation from its platform, Facebook has alleged that one of south-east Asia’s biggest telecoms providers used tactics typical of Russian trolls to discredit rivals.https://t.co/f20OzoTk7W
— Philip Mai (@PhMai) February 13, 2020
The future of disinformation is now as Facebook conducts the first takedown of "commercial disinformation" from its platform. I think it's safe to say we will only continue to see more actors at least attempt to take advantage of these kind of tactics.https://t.co/GtNfbI7vTh
— Kasey Stricklin (@kasey_stricklin) February 12, 2020