Leaders from Google, Twitter and Facebook will testify before the Senate on Sept. 5. The topic of discussion will be the companies’ efforts at limiting foreign activity.
Deleted Facebook Groups
FireEye is a security company that is assisting Facebook. The first large group that Facebook and FireEye looked into was Liberty Front Press. The group had multiple accounts on Facebook, all from Iran. The group started in 2013 with the goal of influencing politics in the Middle East, UK and U.S.
FireEye said the group’s content was anti-Saudi and anti-Israeli. It also said the group wanted to raise support for the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal. The group’s content included a large amount of propaganda against President Donald Trump. Trump refused to support a nuclear deal with Iran.
Another group that FireEye and Facebook looked into and closed was part of the first. The goal of this group was to spread malware to American users. Facebook did not reveal the nature of the malware. A third group was also run by Iranian operatives. In total, Iran groups had 813,000 followers. They spent $12,000 in advertising on Facebook.
