SEATTLE: Twitter on Friday said it had removed tens of thousands of “state linked” accounts used by China, Russia and Turkey to push their own propaganda, sow misinformation or attack critics. By far the biggest network uncovered was linked to China, the US social media giant said, comprised of a “highly engaged core” of 23,750 accounts that was boosted by a further 150,000 “amplifier” accounts. All accounts and their content have been removed from Twitter but have been placed on an archive database for researchers. As well as pushing Beijing’s narrative on the Hong Kong protests, the network did the same for the coronavirus pandemic and criticising Taiwan. Twitter — along with YouTube, Google and Facebook — is banned in China, which uses a“Great Firewall” to scrub its internet and censor negative information.

Source: Manila Times June 12, 2020 16:28 UTC