MEK troll farm
The MEK troll farm is a troll farm reportedly run by People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) in a camp located Tirana, Albania. The troll farm is estimated to have more than 1000 members who promote the opinions of MEK supporters, and attack the Iranian government. In 2021 Facebook removed hundreds of accounts associated with the group. The MEK has denied the existence of the troll farm and MEK's umbrella group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said that neither the MEK nor any of its accounts had been removed.
Reports and interviews[edit]
A report by the UK's Independent spoke over "the existence in the camp of what amounts to a Twitter troll factory."[1][2] Also, 10 former MEK members were interviewed by The New York Times in February 2020, who said that the MEK's Albania camp managed a troll farm that promoted the ideas of MEK supporters, such as Rudy Giuliani and John Bolton, while criticizing the Iranian government. The MEK though said that former MEK members were spies for the Iranian government.[3] A former MEK member also told The Guardian regarding a troll farm having 1,000 people inside the Albanian camp.[4] He said the group spread pro-Rajavi and anti-Iran propaganda on Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, and newspaper comment sections in English, Farsi, and Arabic. A MEK spokesperson described these allegations as "lie". However, according to Marc Owen Jones, an academic who works on political bots on social media, "thousands" of suspicious Twitter accounts who had "Iran" as their location and "human rights" in their description or account name appeared in early 2016, all of which supported Trump and the MEK. Marc Jones added that these accounts were made in batches and used the hashtags #IranRegimeChange, #FreeIran, and #IstandwithMaryamRajavi to boost Trump's anti-Iran rhetoric.[4]
Hassan Heirani, a former high-ranking member of the organization, told The Intercept that Heshmat Alavi, who has written for Forbes, The Hill, the Daily Caller, The Federalist, Saudi-owned al-Arabiya English, and other media sites, was actually a group of MEK members operating the account. The MEK "wants to show to the world that their narrative has support, even from people who are not directly members of the group," Heirani said. Geoff Golberg, a social media manipulation expert and founder of SocialCartograph, a social media mapping company, paid particular attention to Alavi's Twitter account, which appears to be acting as a node in an online campaign to boost the MEK's profile. "The account is connected to thousands of inauthentic MEK-focused accounts, many of which regularly engage with the account's tweets. The goal of these efforts is to create the illusion of a larger support base than exists in reality", said Golberg.[5]
According to Al Jazeera, the exiled MEK has constructed a center at its Albanian headquarters where 1,000 to 1,500 "online soldiers" are taught to spread hashtags in support of overthrowing the Islamic Republic.[6] According to a former MEK member who spoke with Al Jazeera's Listening Post, the Albania-based MEK troll farm was instructed to tweet pro-MEK misinformation. He stated that members in Tirana received daily directives and that it was their responsibility to applaud anti-Iran statements made by politicians worldwide. On the other hand, MEK troll farm attacked anyone who was not sufficiently critical of Iran or who was critical of MEK.[7]
Facebook intervention[edit]
In 2021, Facebook company removed hundreds of fake accounts which were associated MEK troll farm based in Albania. The company said that it deleted more than 300 accounts from a network associated with Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK)[8] and that despite the group's limited success in attracting a major audience, it was operated by what looks to be a well organized troll farm affiliated with an exiled Iranian militant opposition organization.[9]
Facebook found that the accounts were managed from a single location in Albania by a number of MEK members. Facebook identified further signs of a so-called troll farm, in which workers are paid to post false information on social media. To begin, researchers noticed that activity appeared to follow the central European workday, with posts increasing about 9 a.m., dropping in the afternoon, and halting for lunch. On a Tuesday conference call, Ben Nimmo, who oversees Facebook's global threat intelligence team, told reporters, "Even trolls need to eat."[10] The accounts, which included Facebook profiles, pages, groups, and Instagram accounts, published information critical of Iran's government while regularly praising MEK action. Additionally, the company also said dozens of accounts from Iran, Israel, and Egypt were removed.[9] In some instances, the bogus profiles used images of Iranian celebrities or dissidents who had passed away. A small number of newer Instagram accounts seem to have utilized computer-generated profile images.[10] A statement from the MEK's umbrella group, the National Council for Resistance in Iran, said that neither the MEK nor any of its accounts had been removed. The group also denied the existence of an Albanian troll farm connected to the MEK.[10]
See also[edit]
- Albania–Iran relations
- People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran#Settlement in Albania (2016–present)
- Manëz
References[edit]
- ↑ "Why is this Iranian regime change cult building a base … in Albania?". Middle East Eye édition française (in français). Retrieved 2022-11-16.
- ↑ "The mysterious cult opposing the Iranian regime which has created a state within a state in Albania". The Independent. 2019-01-07. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
- ↑ Kingsley, Patrick (16 February 2020). "Highly Secretive Iranian Rebels Are Holed Up in Albania. They Gave Us a Tour". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Merat, Arron (2018-11-09). "Terrorists, cultists – or champions of Iranian democracy? The wild wild story of the MEK". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
- ↑ Hussain, Murtaza (June 9, 2019). "An Iranian Activist Wrote Dozens of Articles for Right-Wing Outlets. But Is He a Real Person?". The Intercept. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
- ↑ "Iranians respond to MEK troll farm: #YouAreBots - Al-Monitor: Independent, trusted coverage of the Middle East". www.al-monitor.com. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
- ↑ Jones, Marc Owen (6 July 2022). Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Deception, Disinformation and Social Media. Hurst Publishers. ISBN 978-1-78738-882-6. Retrieved 14 November 2022. Search this book on
- ↑ "March 2021 Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Report" (PDF). Facebook. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Facebook accuses opposition Iranian group of running 'troll farm' from Albania". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Facebook removes accounts tied to Iranian exile group". Associated Press. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
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