Report links vast online disinformation campaign to Iran

FILE - In this Oct. 26, 2018, file photo Ali AlAhmed poses for a photograph in his office in Washington. Citizen Lab says a fake Twitter account unmasked by The Associated Press was but one piece of a vast years-old and multi-lingual campaign aimed at seeding anti-Saudi, anti-Israel and anti-American stories across the internet. The Associated Press was on the verge of publishing a story about how AlAhmed, who is based in the Washington area, had been targeted by hackers posing as a female journalist. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

LONDON: When an attractive young Middle Eastern woman contacted Saudi dissident Ali AlAhmed over Twitter last November, he was immediately suspicious.  

The Associated Press was on the verge of publishing a story about how AlAhmed, who is based in the Washington area, had been targeted by hackers posing as a female journalist. Now, just two days before the article was set to go live, another young woman had sidled up to him over the Internet, trying to entice him to read an article and share it online.