Read on Twitter
A quick thread on this and why several Iranians I spoke to said this stunt was confusing and potentially dangerous 
https://twitter.com/razhael/status/1291461213449326597
https://twitter.com/razhael/status/1291461213449326597
To start with, the message was unsolicited and came in the middle of the night — around 1am Iran time — according to several recipients I spoke too. The gut feeling many had when they saw the SMS was that they were being targeted by hackers. Here’s one reaction:
Here’s another
It didn’t help that whoever sent this message decided to use a custom link shortener — a tactic favored by hackers of all stripes and Iran-linked groups like Charming Kitten in particular. Cybersecurity trainers often warn at-risk groups about the dangers of short links.
To make matters worse, for many recipients, the text *appeared* to come from Google. The reason for that isn’t clear to me, but the net effect is that some recipients believe Google gave their personal data to the US government.
https://twitter.com/valizadeh68/status/1291362147956531200?s=21 https://twitter.com/valizadeh68/status/1291362147956531200
https://twitter.com/valizadeh68/status/1291362147956531200?s=21 https://twitter.com/valizadeh68/status/1291362147956531200
See also, for example:
https://twitter.com/mrphs/status/1291370883513225218?s=21 https://twitter.com/mrphs/status/1291370883513225218
https://twitter.com/mrphs/status/1291370883513225218?s=21 https://twitter.com/mrphs/status/1291370883513225218
Whatever the mechanics or intent of this messaging campaign, the net effect among those I spoke to — and those posting online — seems to have been confusion, alarm, or amusement: https://twitter.com/dr_dvlpr/status/1291188942163845121?s=21 https://twitter.com/dr_dvlpr/status/1291188942163845121
If you know who’s responsible for these messages — and who specifically was targeted — get in touch: http://raphae.li
