Twitter suspends 1.7 lakh accounts containing fake information

Twitter has disclosed the removal of a fake network comprising over 1.73 lakh accounts that were linked to a state-backed campaign in China involved in a range of manipulative activities including spreading disinformation about the political situation in Hong Kong.

The micro-blogging platform said that these were two interconnected sets of accounts. Twitters announced that it has shut down over those fake accounts for “spreading geopolitical narratives favourable” to the Chinese government and were removed for violating its platform manipulation policies. Twitter is officially blocked in China, though many people in the country are able to access it using a VPN.

Twitter informed, "Despite the volume, the core 23,750 accounts we are publishing to the archive were largely caught early and failed to achieve considerable traction on the service, typically holding low follower accounts and low engagement. They were tweeting predominantly in Chinese languages and spreading geopolitical narratives favourable to the Communist Party of China (CCP), while continuing to push deceptive narratives about the political dynamics in Hong Kong.”

In general, this entire network was involved in a range of manipulative and coordinated activities.

"Every account and piece of content associated with these operations has been permanently removed from the service. In addition, we have shared relevant data from this disclosure with two leading research partners: Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO)," informed Twitter.

Detected in early 2020, 7,340 accounts in Turkey were employing coordinated inauthentic activity primarily targeted at domestic audiences within the country.

"Based on our analysis of the network's technical indicators and account behaviours, the collection of fake and compromised accounts was being used to amplify political narratives favourable to the AK Parti, and demonstrated strong support for President Erdogan," said Twitter.

The company said that in the future, it is going to offer more clarity in the public archive around impression counts and attempt to further measure the tangible impact of information operations on the public conversation.