Facebook deletes accounts linked to Iran’s state media that targeted Morocco

American social media and technology company Facebook has announced the deletion of 118 pages, 389 Facebook accounts, 27 groups and 6 Instagram accounts targeting several countries, including Morocco.

In a statement released Tuesday, Facebook said that the activity of these accounts, groups and pages «originated in Iran and focused on a wide range of countries globally including Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Egypt, Ghana, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, the US, UK and Zimbabwe».

«Our investigation linked this activity to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Corporation», Iran’s state media, Facebook explained. «We found this network as part of our internal investigations into suspected coordinated inauthentic behavior, based in part on some links to our past takedowns», it added.

In January 2019, Facebook took down 783 pages, groups and accounts in Iran «engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior» targeting Morocco.

For the record, Morocco cut diplomatic ties with Iran in May 2018, suggesting that the latter helped the Polisario Front through its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. The breakup allowed the kingdom to get closer to the Trump administration.