Twitter announced that it has shut down about 4,800 accounts with ties to Iran. “The company said the accounts were engaged in spreading disinformation and propaganda that ‘benefited the diplomatic and geostrategic views of the Iranian state.'”
Iran has for some time spread its tentacles internationally through propaganda campaigns that are intended to boost its own jihadist, expansionary ambitions. The Iran Nuclear Deal was merely a farce and cover to enable further funding of the regime’s nuclear build-up, as well to enable it to sharpen its strategies and fund its proxies.
The Trump Administration has recognized such ambitions and confronted them with a call upon governments to pressure Iran with sanctions:
As Iran continues to target Europe as well as its regional neighbors with nefarious disinformation campaigns in addition to cyber and attempted terrorist attacks, their governments should decide to re-impose sanctions, adding materially to Iran’s economic pain. This combined pressure would accelerate Iran’s return to the negotiating table under circumstances highly-favorable to the United States and responsible nations around the world. As President Rouhani himself admitted, Iran will move into a period of unprecedented stress on its economy in the second quarter of 2019.
“Twitter Removes 4,800 Accounts Linked to Iranian Government,” by John Hayward, Breitbart, June 14, 2019:
Twitter announced on Thursday it has shuttered some 4,800 accounts with ties to the government of Iran. The company said the accounts were engaged in spreading disinformation and propaganda that “benefited the diplomatic and geostrategic views of the Iranian state.”
Twitter found 2,865 Iran-linked accounts which “employed a range of false personas to target conversations about political and social issues in Iran and globally.” Of the banned accounts, 300 were “focused on influencing discussions related to Israel.” The banned accounts collectively generated about two million tweets.
The news was delivered in the latest routine transparency report from Twitter, which says it has committed itself to combating state-sponsored political influence campaigns. Information about the banned accounts is kept in a database that can be accessed by the public with some redactions, or accessed in full by researchers who file requests with the social media company. The database currently contains over 30 million tweets plus associated images and video clips.
The latest transparency action also deleted four accounts associated with the Russian government, 130 originating from Spain, and 33 from Venezuela. The Spanish accounts were all tied to the Catalan independence movement. A purge in February deleted almost 2,000 accounts linked to the regime of socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.
Russia was once the primary Twitter disinformation threat, but Iran appears to have stolen its crown. Thousands of Russian “troll farm” accounts were deleted in previous purges, but this time Russia offered a paltry four accounts compared to Iran’s 4,800….