[ad_1]
Twitter removed some 130 accounts with ties to Iran that were attempting to disrupt the public conversation during the US presidential debate Tuesday night.
Image from Pixabay / Illustration by CNET
Twitter said Wednesday that it removed about 130 accounts Tuesday that were trying to disrupt the public conversation about the first US presidential debate. The accounts, which appeared to originate in Iran, were removed based on intelligence provided by the FBI, Twitter said in a tweet.
“We identify these accounts quickly, remove them from Twitter, and share all the details with our peers, as standard,” Twitter said in a cheep. They had very little participation and had no impact on the public conversation. “
Account deletions are part of Twitter’s efforts to reduce misinformation shared on the platform. Twitter’s fight against disinformation campaigns began in 2018 when it removed more than a million fake accounts.
The FBI confirmed that it provided information to Twitter in an effort to protect national security and the democratic process.
“Although we cannot discuss the specific information provided, the FBI regularly shares information with social media companies so they can better protect their platforms,” a spokesman for the FBI’s local San Francisco office said in a statement. “The FBI actively engages with our federal partners, election officials, and the private sector to mitigate foreign threats to the security of our nation and our elections.”
Iran has been a frequent target of irritation for Twitter. The company said in June 2019 that it had eliminated 4,779 accounts linked to the Iranian government and added more data from the account deletion to a public database. That includes content from four fake accounts that Twitter took down that were linked to a Russian troll farm called the Internet Investigation Agency.
Tensions between Iran and the United States escalated earlier this year following US military strikes in response to a rocket attack that killed a US civilian contractor at an Iraqi military base. Iran’s government vowed to strike back and cybersecurity experts warned that Iran could opt for a cyberattack to retaliate against the US..
US officials have already warned of a rampant disinformation campaign. of China, Russia and Iran to influence the 2020 presidential elections. Officials warned that these efforts could include creating fake websites to show unofficial election “winners”, hacking existing poll tracking websites to alter the results or spread disinformation on social media to challenge the result.
[ad_2]
