Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced the removal of a network of user accounts linked to an Iran-based operation that used artificial intelligence to generate and post political content targeting American audiences. The network operated through accounts posing as ordinary U.S. citizens.
In its latest report, Meta stated that it identified and disrupted four Facebook accounts and 31 Instagram accounts connected to operators based in Iran. The content posted by these accounts primarily focused on U.S. politics, immigration, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with a portion of the material including certain political memes created using artificial intelligence.
According to information provided by Meta to Axios, the network’s operators created fake personas with American identities to make their activities appear authentic. Some accounts presented themselves as civil activists, students, or graphic designers and claimed to reside in cities such as Washington, San Diego, and Atlanta.
These accounts also tagged real journalists and politicians in their posts and sent direct messages to prominent political and media figures to encourage them to collaborate on content creation. Meta stated that none of these attempts resulted in successful collaborations.
