Twitter and Facebook have suspended hundreds of 'deceptive' accounts linked to the Chinese state, with state media also banned from advertising political messages.
Early on Monday [August 19], I reported that China has been paying Twitter to promote state propaganda against pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. The same has been true on Facebook, where multiple state-controlled accounts have peddled the same messages. By the end of the day, both social media giants had acted to suspend numerous accounts linked to"disinformation," essentially Chinese state propaganda.
Twitter is blocked in China, and accounts are usually accessed using VPNs, but the platform discovered that some of the now suspended accounts were accessed from"specific unblocked IP addresses originating in mainland China." The implications of this are self-evident.China of"manipulative behaviors" that violate the fundamental principles" on which the platform is built. Those activities, they say, have"no place on our service.
For its part, Facebook credited Twitter for the information that led to the removal of multiple pages and accounts engaging in as part of a Chinese network. "The individuals behind this campaign," the social media giant said,"engaged in a number of deceptive tactics, including the use of fake accounts—frequently posting about local political news and issues including the ongoing protests in Hong Kong."the activity was state-sponsored.
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