VOA慢速英语--报道称伊朗媒体集团寻求全球影响力

Report: Iranian Media Group Seeks Worldwide Influence

Iran’s efforts to influence internet users around the world are larger than experts have thought, reports Reuters news agency.

Reuters said that Iran has a group of anonymous¹ websites and social media accounts in 11 important languages.

Facebook and other companies said last week that social media accounts and websites were part of an Iranian campaign. The goal was to influence public opinion in other countries.

Reuters studied 10 other websites and many accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

The American internet security company FireEye and the Israeli company ClearSky studied Reuters’s research. The companies said that technical evidence showed a web of sites and social media accounts called the International Union of Virtual² Media, or IUVM.

Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, took down some sites and accounts linked to IUVM last week.

IUVM spreads information from Iranian state media and other media providers supportive of Iranian policies on the internet. Often the provider makes it difficult to find out where the information first came from. Some of these media providers include Iran’s PressTV, FARS news agency and al-Manar TV, which is linked to the pro-Iranian militant³ group Hezobollah in Lebanon. Representatives from those media companies or the Iranian government did not answer Reuters’ requests for comments.

Russia not alone in trying to influence elections

Since 2016, U.S. officials and media have been looking into possible Russian interference into the presidential election that year.

In July, a grand jury⁴ in the United States brought charges against 12 Russians. They were accused of being intelligence officers trying to hack⁵ computer systems of political groups in 2016. Russia has denied the charges.

U.S. officials also have warned that Russia could attempt to influence congressional elections in November.

Ben Nimmo is with the Digital Forensic⁶ Research Lab at the Atlantic Council in Washington D.C. He said the Iranian operation was a large-scale one.

“This shows how easy it is to run an influence operation online, even when the level of skill is low.”

He said the Iranian operation depended on quantity not quality but still stayed secret for years.

Facebook spokesman⁷ Jay Nancarrow said the company is continuing to investigate accounts and pages linked to Iran. The company, he said, took down more pages on Tuesday.

Twitter tweeted that it had removed 486 accounts for violating⁸ its terms of use since last week. Twitter said it had suspended 770 accounts recently and of those “fewer than 100” had been based in the U.S.

YouTube blocked the IUVM TV page after Reuters contacted the company with questions about it.

Reuters has sought comments from IUVM, but has not received answers from the company. However, the company does not hide that it supports Iranian causes.

IUVM operates in languages including English, French, Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Pashto, Russian, Turkish and Spanish.

I’m Mario Ritter.

Words in This Story

anonymous –adj. not named or identified

hack –v. to secretly get access to the files on a computer or network in order to get information or cause damage

scale –n. the size or level of something

1 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

2 virtual   

adj.实质上的，事实上的，实际上的

参考例句：

• This reply is a virtual acceptance of our offer.这一回答实质上是接受了我们的建议。
• At that time the East India Company was the virtual ruler of Bengal.那时东印度公司是孟加拉的实际统治者。

3 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

4 jury   

n.陪审团，评委会；adj.临时用的；vt.挑选

参考例句：

• These twelve men are believed to compose the jury.据信，陪审团是由这12人组成的。
• The members of the jury were discharged from their duties.陪审员们被解除了职务。

5 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

6 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。

7 spokesman   

n.发言人，代言人

参考例句：

• The government spokesman gave a quick briefing to the reporters.政府发言人向记者们作了情况简介。
• They drew lots to decide who should be their spokesman.他们抽签决定谁是他们的发言人。

8 violating   

亵渎( violate的现在分词 )； 违反； 侵犯； 强奸

参考例句：

• Ignorance of a law does not excuse a man for violating it. 一个人不懂法律不构成犯法的理由。
• It was sued by the U.S. federal government for violating antitrust law. 它被美国联邦政府指控违反了反托拉斯法。