Washington (AFP) - Twitter said Friday it has closed down thousands of accounts across the world for spreading fake news as well as pro-government propaganda, including in places like the United Arab Emirates, China and Spain.
Accounts
coming from China seeking to sow discord among protesters in Hong Kong were
closed down, as were accounts amplifying a pro-Saudi message coming from Egypt
and the United Arab Emirates directed at Qatar and Yemen, Twitter said.
Fake news
accounts were also suspended in Spain and Ecuador.
The
information release is part of the company's push to improve understanding of
how its platform is used by state actors to manipulate public opinion.
Twitter
said they had identified 4,302 accounts based in China "attempting to sow
discord about the protest movement in Hong Kong."
This
follows the identification in August of more than 200,000 fake accounts in
China engaged in fueling public discord in Hong Kong.
The
announcement follows Facebook's removing fake accounts based in Egypt, Saudi
Arabia and the UAE last month for posting misinformation about regional
hotspots including Libya, Sudan and Yemen.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.