Parrot Anafi review: A compact drone that’s blind as a bat

Foldable • lightweight design • Easy-to-use controls • Robust battery with 20-minute flight time • Great camera with a full gimbal

No obstacle avoidance • No internal storage • In-app purchases for traditional drone features • Hovering at low altitudes is tough

It’s disappointing that Parrot’s latest drone, the Anafi, lacks many features, including obstacle avoidance. But the camera and easy-to-use controls make up for a lot.

When you think of drones, chances are DJI comes to mind first. Among consumers and enthusiasts, it’s the biggest and most well-known brand.

However, you might also remember Parrot and the big splash it made with its original Bebop drone a few years back. Well, the company is still deep into the drone business, and it’s taking another step with the Anafi, which gets its name from a Greek island.

The Anafi’s design is similar to the DJI Spark or Mavic Pro, with foldable legs that make it compact. Despite the diminutive look, its eight blades give it impressive propulsion, and it includes a 4K HDR camera that can move to almost any angle.

However, considering the price, it’s missing some core features, the biggest being any sort of obstacle avoidance. On top of that, the Follow Me mode and Flight Plan tool are behind an in-app purchase. Both of these are typical out-of-the-box features for a drone at this price or lower.

So at $699, should you opt for a Parrot Anafi knowing it is blind and that core features require an in-app purchase?

Let’s unbox the Anafi

Parrot doesn't include much in the box.

Parrot doesn’t include much in the box.

Image: jake krol/mashable

I normally skip over the box and what’s inside, but I think for a compact drone like this, the presentation is important. 

Included accessories are pretty bare-bones. You get the carrying case (which is like an extra-large glasses case), the controller, spare propellers, and a quick start guide. Anafi’s carrying case also includes a USB-A-to-USB-C charging cable and a microSD-card-to-SD-card adapter in a plastic case. A 16GB SanDisk microSD card is pre-installed inside the drone.

It’s pretty simple, and in a way it encourages the user to get out and start flying. The lack of complexity here (if not the price tag) should be appealing for those who have minimal experience flying a drone or are trying it for the first time. It will also appeal to photographers or videographers, thanks to the lens and gimbal setup.

A foldable design

The Anafi is impressively compact with the arms and legs folded in.

The Anafi is impressively compact with the arms and legs folded in.

Image: jake krol/mashable

DJI was first to go full throttle behind the portable and foldable drone model. The Mavic Pro, while larger, had arms and legs that could fold in, allowing it to fit in a smaller case and making it easier to transport.

The Anafi is similar in concept. The drone itself is just shy of 10 inches in length, and the size is surprisingly small. Especially when you compare it to previous Parrot drones that stuck blade guards around the propellers and weren’t collapsible.  When you think about a drone or the category more broadly, the initial thought is big, massive, and even possibly intimidating (looking at you, DJI Inspire). Parrot sticks with a more subdued approach but differs by positioning the Anafi more like a drone than a toy. It’s also super-light at just 11.3 ounces (0.7 pounds), which is helpful for bringing it with you but can also lead to some flight issues in the wind. 

The front and rear legs fold in and hug the main hull of the drone. Equally as important, the eight plastic propellers (two per motor) fold in on top of each other for easy storage. While plastic might not seem like an optimal material, it helps the drone move faster when gliding through the skies. While I didn’t test it, I’m sure the blades are plenty sharp, and I would advise keeping your hands away while they’re moving. 

Looking at the main body, the camera and gimbal are in the front. Moving backwards, you have the fan (for cooling), the drone’s processor (located under the Parrot logo), and the 2,700mAh battery is on the rear. The drone’s power button, four LED lights, and USB-C charging port can be found on the battery compartment, which easily slides out with the press of a button. The battery protects the microSD card slot, along with product information and wireless credentials.

It’s great to see a USB-C port as the connector slowly becomes more universal. It also allows for faster charging, but you can still expect it to take a few hours to reach a full charge.

The bottom of the drone has some sensors, a fan, and a blue LED light. There isn’t a full set of lights, so nighttime flights are at your own risk.

First flight and onward

The Anafi can easily glide through the air at low and high altitudes.

The Anafi can easily glide through the air at low and high altitudes.

Image: jake krol/mashable

Simply, the Anafi is a joy to fly. There isn’t much of a learning curve, and the controls are pretty self-explanatory. It’s also simple to set up. First, you’ll want to charge the battery. In my testing, I got about 20-23 minutes of flight time on a full charge while using the camera and the slower speed setting. Moving it up to the faster one (while still filming) brought that down to about 15 minutes.

You’ll want to have the Parrot FreeFlight app installed on your iOS or Android device before you start; you’ll need it to fly the Anafi. You can plug your device into the controller or connect to the drone over Wi-Fi. The hardwire connection is more reliable and acts as a fail-safe if the Wi-Fi goes out. With the app open and my phone docked into the controller, I was ready to go.

The hovering technology can be hit or miss, especially at lower altitudes.

I set the Anafi on the ground in front of me, hit the power button, and the drone calibrated itself. You’ll see the gimbal adjust and the propellers do a small twitch. From there, the app will connect to the drone, tap “FLY,” and then a live view of the camera is presented with some other fight metrics. 

Hit “Take Off,” and the Anafi will take to the air and hover above the ground. You’ll notice the hovering technology can be hit or miss, especially at lower altitudes. The sensors, along with the camera, look to single in on a point on the ground for reference. If you’re over a field of grass or a black asphalt driveway, the Anafi has a hard time picking up a point. At higher altitudes (above about 45 meters), the hovering experience becomes much more on-point. Because it’s lightweight, the Anafi also has a tough time dealing with strong gusts of wind, which cause it to sway at times.

On the controller, the right stick will let you ascend or descend, as well as turn the drone (which is helpful if you want to stay still but change the view) The left stick lets you pilot the drone left or right, as well as forward and backward. The two levers on the back control the camera. The right-hand one lets you move the camera up and down, while the left-hand side controls the digital zoom. 

The FreeFlight app is pretty straightforward and works in part with the physical controller. You can see height, speed, and a live feed from the camera. There are also some GPS features and a return-to-home function — be careful when you use this as there is no obstacle avoidance. (The drone will simply take the fastest route back to you, regardless of what’s in the way.) You can also access CineShots and other modes that use preprogrammed patterns for the drone to capture shots or follow an individual. 

You can also access a gallery of the footage you take, but the process of moving it over to your PC via the wireless connection is slow. It’s faster to remove the microSD card from the unit and slot it into a computer.

Controlling the Anafi becomes natural after just a few minutes of use.

The 21-megapixel camera on a three-axis gimbal is the star of the show.

The 21-megapixel camera on a three-axis gimbal is the star of the show.

Image: jake krol/mashable

Drone photography and videography can be quite tricky, but Anafi makes them easy. Besides the ease of use, my other favorite thing about the Anafi is the camera. Parrot chose a 21-megapixel camera with a 1/2.4-inch CMOS Sony sensor and wide-angle f/2.4 ASPH lens working in unison. It can handle 4K HDR video.

The ANAFI gave us a birds eye view of the front and back yards in New Jersey.

The ANAFI gave us a birds eye view of the front and back yards in New Jersey.

Image: jake krol/mashable

A view before sunset with a clear sky and tree tops.

A view before sunset with a clear sky and tree tops.

Image: jake krol/mashable

The lens setup on its own is nice, but you also have a three-axis gimbal for stabilization and the ability to vertically tilt up to 180 degrees. This makes it easy for even a novice user to get a good shot. While there is not a physical moveable lens, there is up to 2.8x digital zoom for video and 3X zoom for photos. With digital zoom, a certain amount of softness and graininess tends to appear. Without the zoom, though, photos are sharp, and video is stable with no noticeable hiccups.

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For those epic shots that you see professionals posting on Instagram or YouTube, Parrot has preprogrammed “CineShots” into the companion app. These live on the bottom left-hand corner and are easy to use. This feature is fun to play with and can help drone users of all experience levels get a good shot with minimal legwork. There’s also an option to shoot in hyperlapse, or slow motion, to get a neat visual effect. Epic mode will shoot the Anafi backward by 30 meters to get a wide-angle video.  

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Anafi is blind in the sky

The sensors on the Anafi don't provide obstacle avoidance.

The sensors on the Anafi don’t provide obstacle avoidance.

Image: jake krol/mashable

A significant missing feature is obstacle avoidance, which combines sensors and cameras to make sure you don’t crash the drone. This is a huge miss for the Anafi, especially considering its $700 price. The $399 DJI Spark has obstacle avoidance for a fraction of the price.

A representative from Parrot said the omission was to encourage safe line-of-sight flying. But while using the Anafi, we found the lack of obstacle avoidance to be a safety issue: At times it hovered dangerously close to tree branches, or, even worse, myself. Needless to say, you’ll want to be careful when flying the Anafi. I never had a full-on crash, but there were a few close calls.

Not adding obstacle avoidance was also meant to keep the price down, although DJI was able to add the feature to a $399 drone

In-app purchase required

Parrot's Free Flight app for iOS and Android pairs well with the Anafi's physical controller.

Parrot’s Free Flight app for iOS and Android pairs well with the Anafi’s physical controller.

When you’re spending $699 on a drone, there’s a certain hope that you won’t have to make any incremental purchases in order to use it. Parrot includes a lot for the price, but two key features —Follow Me and Flight Plan — don’t come with it. These two features can make a drone easier to use and show off. Follow Me allows you to lock onto yourself, another person, or a moving object and have the drone follow it. While it does keep a safe distance, the drone’s lack of obstacle avoidance makes following, say, a car in a town with power lines pretty hard. 

Flight Plan allows you to craft a map for the drone to fly and mark out actions, like an taking a photo, for it to perform along the way. While you still have the obstacle-avoidance issue, this is a really nice feature to have. More importantly, if you’re not the best pilot, flight map lets you watch your grand plan happen.

Each of the in-app purchases costs $19.99. The company does occasionally put them on sale, and until mid-September, you can get them for 99 cents. 

While Parrot does include Cameraman along with several CineShots for free, it feels a little cheap to charge for these two — especially because Follow Me is probably one of the most known and requested drone features.

Still a thoroughly enjoyable drone

In the end, a few missteps don't get in the way of a great drone.

In the end, a few missteps don’t get in the way of a great drone.

Image: jake krol/mashable

Parrot’s Anafi is not a perfect drone, but it’s fun to use and has an incredibly easy learning curve. 

At $699, it’s not cheap, plus if you factor in the in-app purchases and $99 for an extra battery (which we recommend picking up), it can get even more expensive. But it has an awesome camera for shooting both still images and video, along with a three-axis gimbal and 180-degree tilt. For a novice, I think the Anafi is worth a go if you want a great camera, even with missing features like obstacle avoidance. However, if camera quality isn’t important to you, go for the DJI Spark since it’s cheaper and has features the Anafi lacks.

Just be careful when you’re flying the Anafi. Keep it in sight at all times — and away from anyone and everyone (including yourself).

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My 600-lb Life star Lisa Fleming dies at 50

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Lisa Fleming, a formerly 704-lb. woman who was featured on TLC’s My 600-Lb. Life in February, has died at 50, her daughter confirmed.

Danielle Fleming shared the news on Facebook on Thursday, and said she was unable to see her mother before her death.

“I am truly at a loss for words right now,” she wrote. “God knows I wanted you to hold on until I got here but He knew what was best for me. I didn’t need to see you like that! This morning I sat and held your hand for four hours knowing nothing I could’ve done would bring you back to me.”

Danielle told TMZ on Friday that Lisa’s death was unrelated to her weight. She said that her mother had lost 200 pounds on the show after undergoing weight loss surgery, and was finally able to stand on her own for the first time in years.

But Danielle said Lisa was sick prior to appearing on the show, and her death was due to those illnesses.

“At the end she was sick and her body was tired and her body just gave out,” Danielle said.

Lisa had been bedridden for years, sleeping in the same bed where her mom died due to obesity. When she found maggots in the folds of her skin, she decided to get weight loss surgery on the show.

It took seven paramedics to lift Lisa out of her bed and into a waiting ambulance.

“The paramedics have to reinforce the ramp they’ll use to get me out of the house,” she said in the Feb. 22 episode. “I can’t believe it’s come to this. But at least I’m doing something about it before it gets to be too late.”

Danielle talked about how much she loved her mom in her Facebook post.

“Anybody who knows me knows I gave my mother my ALL! She was my world and I was her #NumberOneGirl,” she wrote. “Mommy, I love you from here to the stars and back! Those babies loved you even more. I’m happy you’re no longer in pain and stuck in that bed. Y’all pray for me, check on me, come see about me because I am not ok! I love my mama and I wouldn’t wish this pain on my worse enemy.”

In a statement, TLC gave their condolences.

“TLC is saddened to hear that Lisa Fleming, who appeared on My 600-lb Life, passed away on August 23, 2018,” they said. “TLC shares its deepest sympathies to Lisa’s family and friends.”

Lisa is the second star from the show to die this month. On Aug. 2, James “L.B.” Bonner, another former My 600-Lb. Life star, was found dead in a ditch with a gunshot wound. He was 30.

Before his death, Bonner wrote a since-deleted Facebook post thanking everyone for their support, and saying that he needed to “face his demons.”

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Ohio State’s Urban Meyer tweets apology to Courtney Smith, apologizes for ‘words and demeanor’

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Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer took to Twitter on Friday afternoon to apologize to Courtney Smith, the ex-wife of former assistant coach Zach Smith. Meyer apologized for his “words and demeanor” at Wednesday’s press conference, when the school announced he would be suspended three games for the way he handled domestic violence allegations against Zach Smith. 

“My words and demeanor on Wednesday did not show how seriously I take relationship violence,” Meyer tweeted. “I sincerely apologize. I was taught at a very young age that if I ever hit a woman, I would be kicked out of the house and never welcomed back.

“I have the same rule in my house and in the Football Program at Ohio State. Over the years, we have worked hard to educate and remind our coaches and players of the seriousness of relationship violence.”

“Let me say here and now what I should have said on Wednesday: I sincerely apologize to Courtney Smith and her children for what they have gone through.”

Meyer, who will miss games against Oregon State, Rutgers and TCU, is suspended without pay. He has been on paid leave since Aug. 1.

Lawyer: Urban Meyer, Gene Smith ‘fell on the sword’ by accepting suspensions

Kirk Herbstreit: ‘Happy to see’ Urban Meyer is still Ohio State coach

More: Best, worst and sleeper teams in each college football conference

He cannot work with the team at all through the Oregon State game. After that, he can coach practices but cannot be at the next two games.

“I appreciate the opportunity to learn from a mistake,” Meyer said at Wednesday’s press conference. “There were red flags (with Zach Smith). I wish I did a better job knowing things and finding out things. I wish people told me more things. . . . I wish I had known more.

“I want to apologize to the Buckeye Nation. I followed my heart and not my head. … At each juncture I gave Zach the benefit of the doubt.”

Athletic director Gene Smith also was suspended from Aug. 31 to Sept. 16. “I have ultimate authority and oversight and I’m accountable for the athletic department, and in particular, the football program,” Gene Smith said. “I could have done a better job in this particular instance.”

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Mother grizzly bear charges, chases and injures a 10-year-old boy hiking in Yellowstone

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The National Park Service says the adult female grizzly bear was defending its cub.
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A female grizzly bear acting in defense of its cub injured a 10-year-old boy in Yellowstone National Park on Thursday morning after the bear charged a family of four hikers from Washington state.

The boy ran away from the bear, which emerged from vegetation near the trail, officials said in a statement. The bear chased the boy and knocked him over.

The boy “suffered an injured wrist, puncture wounds to the back and wounds around the buttocks,” the statement says.

The family was able to drive off the animal using bear spray, officials report. Upon being sprayed, the bear shook its head and left.

The boy was taken to a clinic and transferred to a hospital in Big Sky, Montana.

Tracks indicate the grizzly bear was with at least one cub and was likely foraging next to the trail before the encounter, officials say. Since the incident was a surprise encounter and the bear was defending its cub, rangers do not plan on searching for the bear.

“This incident could have been more serious. We applaud the family for traveling in a group, carrying bear spray, and knowing how to effectively use it during their emergency,” Pat Kenney, Yellowstone National Park deputy superintendent, is quoted in a statement.

“We wish their son a full recovery from his injuries.”

Officials say the entire park is a bear habitat and report there is an average of one bear attack per year in the park. However, this is the first incident reported since 2015.

Officials recommend hikers carry bear spray, stay alert, make noise and hike in groups of three or more. If charged by a bear, officials say you should stand your ground.

The attack happened on the Divide Trail, southeast of Old Faithful, officials say. The Divide and Spring Creek trails are currently closed so officials can search for recent bear activity.

 

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Serena Williams: French Open bans ‘superhero’ catsuit from next year

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Serena Williams has not worn the black catsuit since this year’s French Open

Serena Williams will be banned from wearing her black catsuit at the French Open in the future, with the tournament set to introduce a stricter dress code.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion said the outfit made her feel like a “superhero” at Roland Garros this year.

She claimed it helped her cope with the issue of blood clots, which she said almost cost her her life giving birth.

“It will no longer be accepted,” French Tennis Federation president Bernard Giudicelli told Tennis magazine.

“I believe we have sometimes gone too far. You have to respect the game and the place.”

Giudicelli did not reveal the new rules but said they will not be as restrictive as at Wimbledon, where players must wear all-white outfits.

He added that although most player uniforms for 2019 have already been planned, the FFT is asking manufacturers to share the designs.

Williams, 36, made her return to Grand Slam tennis at the French Open in May following the birth of her daughter last September.

The three-time winner wore the catsuit in each of the first three rounds but had to pull out of her fourth-round tie against Maria Sharapova because of injury.

She dedicated the outfit to new mothers and said it made her feel like a “queen from Wakanda” in reference to the Black Panther movie.

Williams is bidding for a seventh US Open title when the tournament starts on Monday and the 17th seed faces Poland’s world number 60 Magda Linette in the first round.

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Guam: What it means to be from a US territory

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Many people on Guam, and in other US territories, consider themselves second-class citizens. 

They can’t vote for the president and the one representative each territory is given in Congress also has no voting power, even though most people living in the territories are US citizens, with many also serving in the US military. 

“Most members of Congress, they couldn’t find Guam on a map and they don’t want to because it’s completely off their radar,” Anne Perez Hattori, a Chamorro History Professor at the University of Guam, tells AJ+. 

The indigenous Chamorro people in Guam, located in the Western Pacific, have had their traditional practices stripped away from them over the hundreds of years that they’ve been colonised by the Spanish, occupied by the Japanese and militarised by the Americans.

In this series of Untold America, AJ+ travels more than 9,000km (about 5,592 miles) from California to Guam to examine the island’s traumatic past, and what it really means to be from a US territory.

How the US territory of Guam became a US territory

In Part 1, AJ+ looks into Guam’s history, speaking to Hattori, who explains that due to a 1901 US Supreme Court decision, people living in the US territories don’t have full constitutional rights, even if they are US citizens.

“We’re reliant upon US Congress to determine our rights, and US Congress, it’s this huge body. We don’t have a vote there, so we don’t have bargaining power,” Hattori says.

AJ+ also speaks to survivors of Japanese occupation.

The Chamorro people suffered many abuses under Japanese control. Jesusa “Susie” Arcero was only 11 years old when the Japanese took over Guam in 1941. She explains how she and many other women were assaulted by Japanese soldiers during the three years they controlled the island.

When the US returned to the island at the end of World War II, Susie says many were relieved, resulting in a generation of patriotism towards the US.

But according to the Chamorro people, they’ve also suffered at the hands of the Americans. Antonio Artero Sablan, a Chamorro landowner, says he was repeatedly held at gunpoint by the US military when he would try to enter his family’s land, which was seized by the military to become part of the Andersen Air Force Base. He was eventually given access to the land after staging a series of protests.

Should US territories be independent?

In Part 2, AJ+ speaks to Rodney Cruz, who joined the military when he was 18 years old.

He served two tours in Iraq and suffers from depression.

“Not being able to vote for president is, it’s like a piece of me is missing,” Cruz says, describing what it’s like to not have a say in who the president will be, especially after witnessing death on the battlefield, picking up “the body parts of American soldiers and being diagnosed with PTSD”.

In this episode, AJ+ also meets Chamorro activists who are fed up and consider Guam to be a US colony.

Why is SPAM so popular in Guam?

In Part 3, AJ+ examines the impact of Guam’s dependency on imported and processed foods like the canned cooked meat, SPAM.

The rate of diabetes on Guam is twice as high as the rest of the US, and in 2014, half of the deaths on the island were due to heart disease and cancer.

AJ+ speaks to Franceska De Oro and Hila’an San Nicolas, who are both Chamorro, and are speaking out about the health effects of processed foods on social media and are attempting to live a locally sustainable lifestyle.

What does it mean to be indigenous and from a US territory?

Finally, in Part 4, AJ+ asks people on Guam about the unique experience of being indigenous Chamorro and from a US territory.

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Jaguar’s classic E-Type is revived as all-electric sports car

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Remember the Jaguar E-Type, the classic sports car from the 1960s and ’70s? It’s back with a bit of extra juice.

The vehicle that’s been called “the most beautiful car ever made” was shown as an electric concept car last year. This week the British carmaker announced it’s going to make and sell the all-electric version. It will be available starting in summer 2020.

The new E-Type promises to look and feel like the old-school classic, but it’ll have quicker acceleration with its battery-powered engine. It will also have a 170-mile range on its 40-kilowatt-hour rechargeable battery. 

For those who already have the traditional E-Type, an electric conversion will be available, and it’s fully reversible if you want to go back to the authentic vehicle.

That looks a bit different.

That looks a bit different.

The price and full specs haven’t been announced yet, but the classic version is available for anywhere from $70,000 to more than $100,000 on Autotrader. There’s one really beat-up E-Type from more than 50 years ago going for $35,000.

The electrified E-Type isn’t Jaguar’s first foray into battery-powered energy. Its I-Pace is an electric SUV (similar to Tesla’s Model X) and is roaming the streets of Phoenix as part of a partnership with autonomous car company Waymo.  

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Walking Dead casts comic book character for season 9

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The Walking Dead

type
TV Show
run date
10/31/10
performer
Andrew Lincoln, Lauren Cohan, Danai Gurira, Norman Reedus
broadcaster
AMC
seasons
9
Genre
Drama, Horror, Thriller

The Walking Dead is adding another character from the comics into its game-changing ninth season.

As first reported by THR, the AMC zombie hit has cast Ozark and Love, Simon actor Cassady McClincy in the recurring role of Lydia.

In Robert Kirkman’s comics, Lydia is the daughter of Alpha (newcomer to the show Samantha Morton), the leader of a group called The Whisperers, a survivor group that wears suits of human flesh to evade Walker detection. In the comics, Lydia has a romance with Carl (Chandler Riggs), but given the events last season it’s probably safe to assume that’s not going to happen.

JEAN-BAPTISTE LACROIX/AFP/Getty Images; Image Comics

The Walking Dead is undergoing a major time jump next season under new showrunner Angela Kang and also will see the departure of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) — for more on that, read our interview with Kang about how the show will handle his departure.

The show returns Oct. 7 to AMC.

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How Iran targeted Americans on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter with liberal memes and posts

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SAN FRANCISCO — They were the kind of social media posts that regularly get shared in liberal circles, but they were coming from sham accounts originating in Iran, the most recently uncovered attempt by a foreign adversary to sway U.S. voters. 

One meme on Facebook from a page called the Progressive Front showed former First Lady Michelle Obama holding a doctored sign that read “An Immigrant Took My Job,” a swipe at Slovenia-born Melania Trump. A tweet from the account Liberty Front Press urged people to watch a video of a parent and child reunited after being separated at the border “and be reminded of why we fight every day against the monstrous and evil policies of the Trump regime.” YouTube channels featured videos like “Everything You Need to Know about Impeachment.”

The fake pages, tweets and videos were all part of a covert disinformation campaign by Iran that operated in the U.S. and other countries, major U.S. tech companies say. Facebook, Google and Twitter disclosed this week they were shuttering hundreds of accounts and channels linked to the campaign.

The revelation, the biggest of its kind since Facebook disclosed the extent of Russian manipulation on the social network during the 2016 presidential election, highlighted the growing scale and frequency of disinformation operations threatening the United States, experts on these shadowy networks say.

Iran has denied any involvement. 

“Everyone has seen that you can manipulate Americans using false personas online,” said Ben Nimmo with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, which has been working with Facebook on election integrity. “All you need is an internet connection and the ability to speak English.”  

This is the first time Iran was nabbed conducting an influence campaign on social media in the U.S., experts on disinformation say. And it used tactics similar to Russian operatives during and after the 2016 presidential election.

People with ties to Iranian state media set up social media accounts with fake names to target progressive groups, such as Bernie Sanders supporters in the U.S. or Scottish separatists in the U.K., a USA TODAY review of the social media posts showed. They then tapped into resentment on such heated topics as the conflict between Israel and Palestine, immigration and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, pushing pro-Iranian messages alongside anti-Trump messages or posts backing Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party.

In Europe, more than 20,000 Facebook users followed a page “Free Scotland 2014” supporting Scottish secession that turned out to be a fake page from Iran. One Facebook post from “The British Left” spoofed the film “The Notebook” as The Nukebook, showing Kim Jung-un and Donald Trump staring into each other’s eyes in the rain. It was also a fake.

Social media posts linked to articles posted on Iranian-run websites that were made to look like media outlets or nongovernmental organizations.

The objective: to hijack the political conversation to promote anti-Israeli, anti-Saudi and pro-Palestinian themes and Tehran’s interests around the globe, including U.S. policies favorable to Iran such as a nuclear deal, which Trump scrapped in May, that had lifted sanctions.

“Such claims are ridiculous and are part and parcel of U.S. public calls for regime change in Iran, and are an abuse of social media platforms,” Alireza Miryousefi, spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations, told Reuters this week.

About 155,000 Facebook users followed at least one of the accounts affiliated with Liberty Front Press, according to Facebook. But a review of posts and videos affiliated with the Iranian accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit suggest the influence operation did not gain much traction in the U.S., with many posts garnering few likes.

Security company FireEye, which reported suspicious accounts operated under the name Liberty Front Press to Facebook, Google and Twitter two months ago, says Iran’s tactics appeared to have been far more focused on advancing its own foreign policy interests than on influencing U.S. elections. But, if left in place, it’s possible the fake accounts and pages could have been used that way, says Lee Foster, manager of FireEye’s information operations analysis team.

The attacks on social media point to just how vulnerable the American public is, particularly during election cycles, security researchers say.

“This is the kind of thing that I would expect most state intelligence services with advanced information warfare and propaganda capabilities to conduct and this is just the latest one we have uncovered,” said Jonathon Morgan, CEO of New Knowledge, a cybersecurity company that studies disinformation.

Russia has already tried it, with some success. Facebook was a major target of a Russian disinformation campaign during and after the U.S. presidential election, with hundreds of pages and accounts that were later discovered to have been created by the Russian-based Internet Research Agency. The organization bought thousands of ads targeting Americans, often with rubles, and created posts with divisive messages that reached 146 million Americans on Facebook and Instagram.

Last month, the social media giant took down 32 pages and accounts that reached 290,000 people. The accounts were critical of President Trump, a departure from 2016, when Russian messaging sought to bolster his candidacy and undercut his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

For Iran, the veiled social media campaign marked a shift in strategy — and an escalation, says Morgan. In the past, it’s used cyber attacks on U.S. government agencies, universities and private companies to promote its interests, efforts that increased as international sanctions took their toll. On social media, it spread propaganda through state-run media or on official social media accounts and largely targeted U.S. policy in the Middle East, disinformation experts say.

This new effort was joined by a common thread: people posed as members of opposition groups. One fake Iranian activist page, Patriotic Palestine Front, pushed memes of Israeli aggression. Another featured Brexit postage stamps including one of a person shooting themselves in the foot.

Facebook did not disclose how many times the posts were shared or liked.

Dozens of posts also appeared on Reddit with links to articles from the Liberty Front Press website and pop up in subreddits such as r/esist and r/SandersForPresident.

‘A sitting duck’

Disinformation experts say to expect many more such efforts, particularly without a decisive response from the U.S.

Though slow to recognize this new kind of threat, Facebook has been trying to  shut down Moscow’s influence operations and scrub Kremlin-sponsored campaigns from the giant social network ahead of the midterms.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg hinted this week that more revelations of nation-state disinformation campaigns may come to light in coming weeks and months. “I think it’s safe to say we have a number of investigations going on, and we’ll update you when we know more,” he said.

A 2018 report from the Oxford Internet Institute found disinformation campaigns on social media in 48 countries, up from 28 in 2017, despite efforts to combat the spread of false information.

Facebook’s former security chief, Alex Stamos, warned this week that the U.S. government’s failure to address these threats has left the United States unprepared and vulnerable for the midterms in November.

The covert information operations show that “America’s adversaries believe that it is still both safe and effective to attack U.S. democracy using American technologies and the freedoms we cherish,” Stamos wrote in an article published on Lawfare, a national security blog affiliated with the Brookings Institution.

The White House has insisted it has responded forcefully to election interference, but as the midterm elections loom, private companies have become the first line of defense against foreign adversaries and other bad actors, disinformation experts say. 

This week Microsoft said it foiled Russian hacking attempts on politicians and think tanks. Companies such as Facebook and Twitter met Friday in San Francisco to collaborate on how to combat disinformation campaigns. 

“Fortunately the platforms have now woken up to this,” Nimmo said. “But on the political level, the argument just hasn’t caught up yet for all kinds of domestic reasons. Until you have the political leadership, you are not going to get concerted action. So America is in a really bad place at the moment.

“America,” he said, “is now seen as a sitting duck for this kind of operation.”  

CLOSE

The United States and Iran have been lobbing threats, fighting proxy wars, and imposing sanctions for decades. USA Today looks at over 60 years of this back-and-forth.
Just the FAQs, USA TODAY

More: Facebook foils political influence campaigns originating in Iran, Russia ahead of U.S. midterms

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More: We read every one of the 3,517 Facebook ads bought by Russians. Here’s what we found

More: Russian Facebook ads inflamed Hispanic tensions over immigration after Trump election

 

 

 

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Astros pitcher Justin Verlander pranked with $1M lunch bill for being a ‘Dodger killer’

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Astros pitcher Justin Verlander pranked with $1M lunch bill for being a ‘Dodger killer’

Los Angeles Dodgers fans have not forgiven Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander.

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Los Angeles Dodgers fans still have not forgiven Justin Verlander.

Verlander, in Anaheim, Calif. with the Houston Astros to play a series against the Los Angeles Angels this weekend, was handed a hefty lunch bill at the Cabana Cafe in the Beverly Hills Hotel. 

He was charged $1,000,000 for being a “Dodger Killer,” in reference to the Astros defeating the Dodgers in the World Series last October. 

Truth be told though, Verlander was 0-1 in two starts against the Dodgers, but no one will remember that. 

Who was Verlander’s lunch companion? None other than former tennis star and Olympic silver medalist Mardy Fish.

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