The network used fake
accounts to pose as locals in England and Scotland, posting photos and memes
about current events and criticism of the United Kingdom's government, Meta
said.
The accounts organised
their content around common hashtags promoting the cause, though they at times
misspelled them, the company said. The accounts also posted about football and
UK cities, likely to make the fictitious personas seem more authentic.
Some of the fake accounts used profile
pictures likely created through AI techniques, while others used photos of
media personalities and celebrities from the UK and Iraq as profile pictures,
Meta said.
In a referendum on Scottish independence in
2014, Scots voted 55 percent-45 percent to remain in the United Kingdom, but
both Brexit and the British government's handling of the COVID-19 crisis have
bolstered support for independence among Scots and demands for a second vote.
Meta said its investigation found links to
individuals in Iran, including people with a background in teaching English as
a foreign language.
It said the operation had some connections
with a small Iran-based network it previously removed in December 2020, which
mostly targeted Arabic, French, and English-speaking audiences using fake
accounts, but did not provide further details on who might be behind the
activity.
"We've seen a range of operations
coming from Iran over the last few years," said Ben Nimmo, Meta's global
threat intelligence lead for influence operations, in a press briefing.
"It's not a monolithic environment."
The social media company said it had
removed eight Facebook accounts and 126 Instagram accounts as part of this
latest network in December for violating its rules against coordinated
inauthentic behavior.
Meta also said in December it removed a
network that originated primarily in Mexico and targeted audiences in countries
including Honduras, Ecuador and El Salvador, and a network that originated in
Turkey and targeted people in Libya. © Reuters
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