Facebook said on Friday it had deleted accounts originating in Iran that attracted more than 1 million U.S. and British followers, its latest effort to combat disinformation activity on its platform.
Social media companies are struggling to stop attempts by people inside and outside the United States to spread false information on their platforms with goals ranging from destabilizing elections by stoking hard-line positions to supporting propaganda campaigns.
The fake Facebook accounts originating in Iran mostly targeted American liberals, according to the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, a think tank that works with Facebook to study propaganda online.