Iran was second on the list, with 23 inauthentic networks, nine of which were connected to the government or Iranian state broadcasters.

Russia and Iran are leading the way when it comes to pushing bad information on one of the world’s most popular social media platforms, and new analysis finds they are getting savvier at evading detection.

Facebook issued a report Wednesday looking at so-called coordinated inauthentic behavior over the past four years, warning that despite ongoing efforts to identify and remove disinformation networks, there is no let-up in attempts to exploit or weaponize conflict and crisis.

“Threat actors have adapted their behavior and sought cover in the gray spaces between authentic and inauthentic engagement and political activity,” according to the Facebook report, which looked at the more than 150 networks from more than 50 countries that its security teams took down from 2017 to 2020.

“We know they will continue to look for new ways to circumvent our defenses,” the report added, noting disinformation efforts were evenly split between foreign and domestic efforts.

Russia, Iran influence efforts

Overall, Russia was the biggest purveyor of disinformation, according to the analysis, with 27 identified influence operations during the four-year timeframe. Of those, 15 were connected to the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) or other entities linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Another four Russian networks were traced to the Kremlin’s intelligence services and two more originated with Russian media sites.

Iran was second on the list, with 23 inauthentic networks, nine of which were connected to the government or Iranian state broadcasters.

The report said despite a growing number of influence operations and their growing sophistication, many of them are being identified and taken down more quickly than in the past.

Source » iranprobe