Google closes YouTube accounts linked to Iranian government
Facebook took similar actions against apparent Iranian misinformation.
Google took action against Iranian government accounts for coordinated activity, the tech giant announced Wednesday. The move follows similar actions by Facebook and coincides with Twitter rolling out labels for select government accounts on its platform.
Google announced it terminated 16 YouTube accounts in April that were allegedly linked to the Iranian state-sponsored International Union of Virtual Media network. The announcement was part of Google's report for the second quarter of 2020 that was released this week.
The accounts in question allegedly took part in “coordinated influence operations,” which refers to coordinated behavior from accounts related to certain information. The users posted in Arabic about the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and US-Saudi relations, according to Google.
Iranian state media regularly runs articles critical of the US government, including its handling of the coronavirus. Saudi Arabia is one of Iran’s biggest foes in the region. Google also closed accounts linked to Russia and China in the second quarter of 2020.
