The American Daily Beast news site revealed the existence of a network of more than 19 fake figures who published dozens of opinion articles in conservative American media, newspapers and publications in the Middle East, such as "The Jerusalem Post" and "Al Arabia", and other Asian newspapers.
These "articles" praised the UAE, and incited Qatar, Turkey and Iran, and their agents in Iraq and Lebanon.
The investigation recorded that the imaginary writers published contributions on two sites, the Arab Eye and Persia Now, and published opinion articles on dozens of platforms promoting the same goals, including criticizing Qatar, and in particular the Al Jazeera News Network.
He said that the two websites "Arab Eye" and "Persiaow" were registered in one day, and they both use the same IP address, and the two are related to the same cipher chain.
He pointed out that the "Persiaow" website mentions a postal address in London, and a phone number that does not work, as there is no effect on the Internet of the supposed site editors Sharif O'Neil and Timur Hall, and there is no record in the press for either of them.
The website added that the fictional writers criticized Turkey's role in Libya, describing its support to one of the parties to the conflict in Libya as "bad news" aimed at "limiting the flow of vital energy resources" to Europe, and that it is a wedge that is aimed at stirring up division within NATO, as well as designating a network Facebook authorizes Kerman on its board of directors.
For example, the site was reported by Raphael Bedani, opinion writer for "News Max" and "Washington Examiner" and others, which many conservative media relied on to obtain information about Iraq’s need to get rid of Iranian influence, and about the importance of Dubai as an oasis of stability in a troubled region, which is not Except a fairy figure within a network of imaginary writers.
The personas identified were generally contributors to two linked sites, The Arab Eye and Persia Now, had Twitter accounts created in March or April 2020, and lied about their credentials in phony LinkedIn accounts, among other things.
Read: https://t.co/TcA4eXPMoH pic.twitter.com/TUZkvBcKdX
- The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) July 6, 2020
False records and stolen photos
The site reported that the network's activities date back to July 2019, and that it created Twitter accounts in March or April 2020, presenting themselves as political advisors and independent journalists mostly residing in European capitals.
He pointed out that members of the network lied about their academic and professional records on "LinkedIn" and used false or stolen photos.
He said that all stolen portraits used by network members have been tampered with, so that they are not discovered through the use of Google's search engine.
After exposing this information, Twitter decided to suspend the accounts of 15 people, including the account of the fake person Rafael Bedani, against the background of members of this network violating Twitter's policies of tampering with the platforms.
Washington Examiner also deleted articles by Raphael Bedani, while other articles on him are still on Google News and News Max.
The website quoted Mark Owen Jones, Assistant Professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar; He noticed the beginning of the suspicious activity of members of the network, and that he told the Daily Beast that fake news is not only cautious, but also fake journalists.