Facebook takes down Iran-linked accounts for misinformation

Facebook said it has taken down 82 pages, accounts and groups linked to Iran for spreading misinformation. The accounts were taken off Facebook and Instagram, the company said.

The social media giant said the accounts were targeting U.S. and U.K. citizens and typically represented themselves to be American and in some cases British citizens, posting about politically charged topics such as race relations and opposition to President Donald Trump.

Facebook said Friday that a manual review of the accounts linked them to Iran. Facebook has traditionally relied heavily on automated checks to detect misinformation and other bad behavior on its service.

The company previously found and removed hundreds of similar pages in August.

The removals come less than two weeks before the U.S. midterm elections.