Skip to Content
Computing

The vast scale of Iran’s online propaganda machine is becoming clearer

August 29, 2018

Like Russia, Iran has been trying to disguise the fact that it’s behind a plethora of social-media accounts and websites whose content furthers its geopolitical interests.
 
The news: An investigation by Reuters has found dozens of social-media accounts and at least 10 websites that are linked to an Iranian online influence campaign. They’re part of the International Union of Virtual Media (IUVM), which takes content from Iranian TV stations and news agencies and repackages it through other channels to obscure the material’s origins.
 
The mastermind: The IVUM doesn’t try to hide its own mission. According to its website, one of its goals is “confronting with remarkable arrogance [sic], western governments and Zionism front activities.” The organization, which pumps out content in 11 different languages, has been running for at least several years.
 
Whack-a-website: Last week, Facebook, Twitter, and other social-media services took down hundreds of accounts and sites suspected of being Iranian propaganda fronts. The Reuters investigation suggests there are plenty more that have escaped the platforms’ policing efforts. They have been taking more accounts offline this week.
 
The bigger picture: As we highlighted recently, propaganda efforts are being industriallized thanks to the rise of AI bots that can run masses of fake accounts. So campaigns like IUVM’s may well be an early indicator of how state-sponsored social manipulation will work, and an early test of what social-media companies will do about it.

Deep Dive

Computing

What’s next for the world’s fastest supercomputers

Scientists have begun running experiments on Frontier, the world’s first official exascale machine, while facilities worldwide build other machines to join the ranks.

The future of open source is still very much in flux

Free and open software have transformed the tech industry. But we still have a lot to work out to make them healthy, equitable enterprises.

The beautiful complexity of the US radio spectrum

The United States Frequency Allocation Chart shows how the nation’s precious radio frequencies are carefully shared.

How ubiquitous keyboard software puts hundreds of millions of Chinese users at risk

Third-party keyboard apps make typing in Chinese more efficient, but they can also be a privacy nightmare.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.