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Summary: Facebook removed 783 assets — pages, groups, and accounts — that the company assessed to be associated with an Iran-based network for “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” The network targeted users in more than a dozen countries and posted content in at least eight different languages.
All but 97 pages were previously removed by a mixture of automated systems, spam detectors, or varied platform integrity team. Before the takedown, Facebook shared the remaining 97 active pages with @DFRLab. -
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| Reference | Pub Date | Authors | Org | Archive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://medium.com/dfrlab/trolltracker-outward-influence-operation-from-iran-cc4539684c8d | 2019/01/31 | Kanishk Karan, Donara Barojan, Melissa Hall, Graham Brookie | DFRLab | https://web.archive.org/web/20240618014243/https://medium.com/dfrlab/trolltracker-outward-influence-operation-from-iran-cc4539684c8d |
| Technique | Description given for this incident |
|---|---|
| T0097.208 Social Cause Persona | ISD conducted an investigation into the usage of social groups on Steam. Steam is an online platform used to buy and sell digital games, and includes the Steam community feature, which “allows users to find friends and join groups and discussion forums, while also offering in-game voice and text chat”. Actors have used Steam’s social capabilities to enable online harm campaigns: A number of groups were observed encouraging members to join conversations on outside platforms. These include links to Telegram channels connected to white supremacist marches, and media outlets, forums and Discord servers run by neo-Nazis. [...] This off-ramping activity demonstrates how rather than sitting in isolation, Steam fits into the wider extreme right wing online ecosystem, with Steam groups acting as hubs for communities and organizations which span multiple platforms. Accordingly, although the platform appears to fill a specific role in the building and strengthening of communities with similar hobbies and interests, it is suggested that analysis seeking to determine the risk of these communities should focus on their activity across platforms Social Groups on Steam were used to drive new people to other neo-Nazi controlled community assets (T0122: Direct Users to Alternative Platforms, T0152.009: Software Delivery Platform, T0151.002: Online Community Group). |
| T0151.001 Social Media Platform | ISD conducted an investigation into the usage of social groups on Steam. Steam is an online platform used to buy and sell digital games, and includes the Steam community feature, which “allows users to find friends and join groups and discussion forums, while also offering in-game voice and text chat”. Actors have used Steam’s social capabilities to enable online harm campaigns: A number of groups were observed encouraging members to join conversations on outside platforms. These include links to Telegram channels connected to white supremacist marches, and media outlets, forums and Discord servers run by neo-Nazis. [...] This off-ramping activity demonstrates how rather than sitting in isolation, Steam fits into the wider extreme right wing online ecosystem, with Steam groups acting as hubs for communities and organizations which span multiple platforms. Accordingly, although the platform appears to fill a specific role in the building and strengthening of communities with similar hobbies and interests, it is suggested that analysis seeking to determine the risk of these communities should focus on their activity across platforms Social Groups on Steam were used to drive new people to other neo-Nazi controlled community assets (T0122: Direct Users to Alternative Platforms, T0152.009: Software Delivery Platform, T0151.002: Online Community Group). |
| T0151.002 Online Community Group | ISD conducted an investigation into the usage of social groups on Steam. Steam is an online platform used to buy and sell digital games, and includes the Steam community feature, which “allows users to find friends and join groups and discussion forums, while also offering in-game voice and text chat”. Actors have used Steam’s social capabilities to enable online harm campaigns: A number of groups were observed encouraging members to join conversations on outside platforms. These include links to Telegram channels connected to white supremacist marches, and media outlets, forums and Discord servers run by neo-Nazis. [...] This off-ramping activity demonstrates how rather than sitting in isolation, Steam fits into the wider extreme right wing online ecosystem, with Steam groups acting as hubs for communities and organizations which span multiple platforms. Accordingly, although the platform appears to fill a specific role in the building and strengthening of communities with similar hobbies and interests, it is suggested that analysis seeking to determine the risk of these communities should focus on their activity across platforms Social Groups on Steam were used to drive new people to other neo-Nazi controlled community assets (T0122: Direct Users to Alternative Platforms, T0152.009: Software Delivery Platform, T0151.002: Online Community Group). |
| T0152.004 Website Asset | ISD conducted an investigation into the usage of social groups on Steam. Steam is an online platform used to buy and sell digital games, and includes the Steam community feature, which “allows users to find friends and join groups and discussion forums, while also offering in-game voice and text chat”. Actors have used Steam’s social capabilities to enable online harm campaigns: A number of groups were observed encouraging members to join conversations on outside platforms. These include links to Telegram channels connected to white supremacist marches, and media outlets, forums and Discord servers run by neo-Nazis. [...] This off-ramping activity demonstrates how rather than sitting in isolation, Steam fits into the wider extreme right wing online ecosystem, with Steam groups acting as hubs for communities and organizations which span multiple platforms. Accordingly, although the platform appears to fill a specific role in the building and strengthening of communities with similar hobbies and interests, it is suggested that analysis seeking to determine the risk of these communities should focus on their activity across platforms Social Groups on Steam were used to drive new people to other neo-Nazi controlled community assets (T0122: Direct Users to Alternative Platforms, T0152.009: Software Delivery Platform, T0151.002: Online Community Group). |
| T0153.004 QR Code Asset | ISD conducted an investigation into the usage of social groups on Steam. Steam is an online platform used to buy and sell digital games, and includes the Steam community feature, which “allows users to find friends and join groups and discussion forums, while also offering in-game voice and text chat”. Actors have used Steam’s social capabilities to enable online harm campaigns: A number of groups were observed encouraging members to join conversations on outside platforms. These include links to Telegram channels connected to white supremacist marches, and media outlets, forums and Discord servers run by neo-Nazis. [...] This off-ramping activity demonstrates how rather than sitting in isolation, Steam fits into the wider extreme right wing online ecosystem, with Steam groups acting as hubs for communities and organizations which span multiple platforms. Accordingly, although the platform appears to fill a specific role in the building and strengthening of communities with similar hobbies and interests, it is suggested that analysis seeking to determine the risk of these communities should focus on their activity across platforms Social Groups on Steam were used to drive new people to other neo-Nazi controlled community assets (T0122: Direct Users to Alternative Platforms, T0152.009: Software Delivery Platform, T0151.002: Online Community Group). |
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