Shafaq News / Facebook announced in its monthly Inauthentic behavior report, on Thursday, dismantling a network linked to "Zanyari" agency; an intelligence agency affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

The company said in the report received by Shafaq News agency, that the network used fake accounts to impersonate Kurdish public figures, politicians, parties and media agencies.

The inauthentic behavior report, issued monthly by the mass media company, stated that 324 pages, 71 accounts, 5 groups on Facebook; in addition to 31 Instagram accounts were removed, adding that, "the activity originated in Kurdistan Region of Iraq and focused on domestic audience".

The company clarified that, "This network used fake accounts -some of which had been previously detected and disabled by our automated systems- to post in Groups, impersonate local politicians and political parties, and manage Pages masquerading as news entities".

Facebook added, "We found this activity as part of our internal investigation linked to Pages we had previously removed for impersonation".

The investigations of the company attributed this activity to individuals associated with "Zanyari" agency, linking the agency to the regional government of Kurdistan. However, "Zanyari" is the intelligence service of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which is based in the city of Al-Sulaymaniyah. 

The link of the report is attached below:

https://about.fb.com/news/2020/06/may-cib-report/