The Iran Disinformation Project calls Fars the "Spider Net of Lies and Deception" and the cornerstone of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ disinformation and propaganda campaign. Fars News’ disinformation campaign "reaches across Iran’s borders, spreading rumors and lies about dissidents, human rights, labor, political activists, and intellectuals."[5] One propaganda technique is to consistently publish interviews with western pundits and analysts such as conspiracy theoristJames Fetzer who echo Tehran’s propaganda.[6]
In June 2012, Fars released an interview withEgyptian PresidentMohamed Morsi in which Morsi is said to have told Fars that he wanted to restore ties with Iran and wanted to "review" theEgypt–Israel peace treaty.[14] Morsi later disputed the authenticity of the interview.[14] Fars responded by providing what it said was audio of the interview.[14] Arabic newscasterAl Arabiya quoted unnamed experts who said it was not Morsi's voice.[14]
In September 2012, the agency picked up a story fromThe Onion, a satirical newspaper, about a supposed survey showing "an overwhelming majority of rural white Americans would rather vote forIranian PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad thanU.S. PresidentBarack Obama in the upcoming U.S. elections".[15][16] The Iranian version copied the original word-for-word, even including a made-up quote from a fictionalWest Virginia resident who says he would rather go to a baseball game with Ahmadinejad because "he takes national defense seriously, and he'd never let some gay protesters tell him how to run his country like Obama does."[15][16]
Fars News Agency later apologized for its mistake, but claimed that a majority of Americans would prefer anyone outside of the American political system to President Obama and American statesmen.[17]
In April 2013, the agency carried a story claiming a 27-year-old Iranian scientist had invented atime machine that allowed people to see into the future. A few days later the story was removed, and replaced with a story quoting an Iranian government official that no such device had been registered.[18][19]
In January 2014, Fars posted a series of articles that suggested U.S. security policy was being driven by an "alien/extraterrestrial intelligence agenda".[20][21][22] The report said that proof was found in aFederal Security Service report carried out byEdward Snowden.[20][22] The report said that the United States government had been secretly run by a "shadow government" of space aliens since 1945.[23]
In February 2016, Fars was one of 40 Iranian news agencies that pledged money toward the bounty againstSalman Rushdie in regards toThe Satanic Verses controversy.[24] Fars promised $30,000 for the killing of Rushdie.[24]
Media related toFars News Agency at Wikimedia Commons
