Facebook’s Kurdistan Takedown
On May 29, Facebook took down over 400 assets based in Iraqi Kurdistan for coordinated inauthentic behavior. The assets on Facebook and Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) posted on a range of issues, but they typically supported the Kurdish political party the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and its co-leader Lahur “Sheikh Jangi” Talabani and criticized the governing Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and its leaders from the Barzani family.
Ben Nimmo
Head of Investigations
Ben Nimmo was Head of Investigations at Graphika, where he led an expert team of OSINT investigators in detecting, identifying and analyzing inauthentic behavior and information operations online. He specializes in analyzing patterns of online disinformation and influence operations across varying platforms and geographical regions. He is now the Principal Investigator, Intelligence & Investigations at OpenAI.
C. Shawn Eib
Analyst
Léa Ronzaud
Senior Analyst
Léa Ronzaud leads monitoring and investigations into the detection and tracking of Russian influence operations and violent extremist groups. She also researches nihilistic violent extremism and hacktivism. Léa’s work has helped disrupt efforts by extremists in multiple countries to orchestrate real-world harm and exposed the inner workings of nation-state influence operations from Russia, China, and Iran.
Thomas Lederer is Vice President of Technology at Graphika, where he leads development and optimization of the company’s software platform and analytic solutions. He previously directed Graphika’s intelligence data team and has contributed to multiple reports and investigations, bringing a background that combines technology leadership and research work.
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The full report includes the complete network graph maps, raw attribution indicators, cross-platform topology analysis, and the full takedown timeline with platform-level data.
- Full network graph visualizations
- Attribution indicators with confidence scores
- Raw behavioral modeling data
- Takedown coordination timeline
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