Thread by @benimmo

Here we go again: @facebook takes down networks of coordinated inauthentic behaviour in Iraq and Ukraine.

Not the first time in Ukraine, by any means, but Iraq is a new one to me.

Both identified by internal investigation.

newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/09/r…

@facebook The team at @DFRLab have written up the Ukraine network here.

Signs of inauthentic behaviour aplenty, such as identical posting and identical creation dates.

Per @fbnewsroom, the total ad spend was around $1.6 million.

medium.com/dfrlab/inauthe…

@facebook @DFRLab @fbnewsroom Also worth noting the prominence of the larger group. The websites that these assets pointed to were some of the most-visited in Ukraine.

Around 4 million accounts followed one or more of the pages in the takedown.

@facebook @DFRLab @fbnewsroom The Iraq set's interesting. About 1.5 million accounts following one or more pages, so a significant number.

Domestic political content, including Saddam.

@facebook @DFRLab @fbnewsroom Shoutout to Iran, too.

There's so much analysis to be done on information operations in MENA. Iran, Saudi, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, Israel...

@facebook @DFRLab @fbnewsroom Some of the tactics look pretty standard audience building:

"Many of these Pages merged with one another and changed names over time."

Seen that in many parts of the world.

@facebook @DFRLab @fbnewsroom This takes deception to a new level, though:

"They also impersonated other people and used their IDs to conceal their identity and attempt to avoid detection and removal."

Real-life identity theft, to underpin fake identities online?

@facebook @DFRLab @fbnewsroom Intriguing currency mix for the ads, too.