Facebook says it removed more accounts tied to Iran for coordinating fake accounts

Facebook Inc said on Thursday it removed pages, groups and accounts tied to Iran for using and coordinating fake accounts. These accounts targeted people across the world, although more heavily in the Middle East and South Asia, the company said. Facebook, Twitter , and other social media companies have been under pressure globally to remove propaganda, bots and illegal content. The companies have stepped up controls, but are still criticized by lawmakers and others for being too slow to close rogue accounts. [caption id=“attachment_5814591” align=“alignnone” width=“1024”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Simultaneously, a recent report suggests that Facebook could be subjected to at least two more state probes in the United States on the alleged mishandling of user data. Facebook has been under pressure for over a year after it was revealed that British consultancy Cambridge Analytica acquired data on millions of US users to target election advertising. That led to heads of several tech companies testifying before Congress last year. With inputs from Reuters.