Facebook accuses Kurdish intelligence unit of domestic influence operation
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Facebook has accused individuals linked to a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) intelligence agency of being behind a coordinated campaign that seeks to manipulate public debate across the social media company’s applications.
The accusations of wrongdoing have been levelled at people connected to the Zanyari Agency, an intelligence unit affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) — the second largest political party in the Kurdistan Region.
In their monthly report on “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” which constitutes a mediated, collective effort to sway the public will “for a strategic goal,” Facebook found individuals linked to the agency to have had a hand in creating fake accounts to “post in Groups, impersonate local politicians and political parties, and manage Pages masquerading as news entities.”
“Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, our investigation found links to individuals associated with Zanyari Agency, part of the intelligence services of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraqi Kurdistan,” reads the report, which says that 324 pages, 71 accounts, 5 groups and 31 Instagram accounts have been taken down by the company for allegedly trying to mislead people in the Region.
“Around $270,000 in spending for ads on Facebook paid for primarily in US dollars,” the report adds.
The Zanyari intelligence organization, founded by the PUK in the nineties, was merged on paper with the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) Parastin intelligence agency under the umbrella of the Kurdistan Region Security Council in 2011. However, the unification has been called into question by analysts, who say distance and distrust still characterizes the relationship between the two parties' intelligence units.
Facebook says the fake accounts largely posted about local news and politics in the Kurdish and Arabic.
“Most recently, a small portion of this activity included posts about local response to the coronavirus pandemic,” reads the report.
Additional reporting by Karwan Faidhi Dri
The accusations of wrongdoing have been levelled at people connected to the Zanyari Agency, an intelligence unit affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) — the second largest political party in the Kurdistan Region.
In their monthly report on “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” which constitutes a mediated, collective effort to sway the public will “for a strategic goal,” Facebook found individuals linked to the agency to have had a hand in creating fake accounts to “post in Groups, impersonate local politicians and political parties, and manage Pages masquerading as news entities.”
“Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, our investigation found links to individuals associated with Zanyari Agency, part of the intelligence services of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraqi Kurdistan,” reads the report, which says that 324 pages, 71 accounts, 5 groups and 31 Instagram accounts have been taken down by the company for allegedly trying to mislead people in the Region.
“Around $270,000 in spending for ads on Facebook paid for primarily in US dollars,” the report adds.
The Zanyari intelligence organization, founded by the PUK in the nineties, was merged on paper with the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) Parastin intelligence agency under the umbrella of the Kurdistan Region Security Council in 2011. However, the unification has been called into question by analysts, who say distance and distrust still characterizes the relationship between the two parties' intelligence units.
Facebook says the fake accounts largely posted about local news and politics in the Kurdish and Arabic.
“Most recently, a small portion of this activity included posts about local response to the coronavirus pandemic,” reads the report.
Additional reporting by Karwan Faidhi Dri