NEW: @Facebook takes down 324 Pages, 71 accounts, 5 Groups, 31 @instagram accounts originating in #Kurdistan region of #Iraq
"This network used fake accounts...to post in Groups, impersonate local politicians & political parties, & manage Pages masquerading as news entities"
"Our investigation connected this activity to individuals associated with #Zanyari Agency, part of the intelligence services of the #Kurdistan Regional Government in #Iraq|i Kurdistan" per @Facebook
about.fb.com/news/2020/06/m…
Per @Facebook, the posts in Kurdish & Arabic, contained "criticism of non-Kurdish politicians and public figures,the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Change Movement and the opposition party New Generation"
Other posts spread "alleged ties between some politicians and #Turkey, the Libyan civil war, and #ISIS" per @Facebook "A small portion of this activity included posts about local response to the #coronavirus pandemic"
The accounts, traced back to #Zanyari Agency and the Kurdistan Regional Government intelligence service, has about 4.4 million followers, per @Facebook
The fake accounts also spent about $270,000 for ads on Facebook, paid for mostly in US dollars
MORE from @Graphika_NYC
The accounts "typically supported the Kurdish political party the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) & its co-leader Lahur “Sheikh Jangi” Talabani & criticized the governing Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) & its leaders from the Barzani family"
For context, the #Zanyari Agenci is one of two intelligence agencies in Iraqi Kurdistan and reports to Lahur Talabani, and is aligned with the PUK
The fake accounts ran "a consistent undercurrent of commentary that criticized the KDP & the Kurdish regional government" per @Graphika_NYC
"Often, the content that they shared was originally posted by one member of the network posing as a news outlet and then amplified by other assets" per @Graphika_NYC "This pattern has been observed in many other influence operations..."
More from @Graphika_NYC report here: public-assets.graphika.com/reports/graphi…
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