Social network suspends thousands in the latest crackdown on state-sponsored propaganda
The social network said some 88,000 accounts being
Most of the accounts were in Arabic and aimed at “amplifying messages favorable to Saudi authorities”, but that some English language content was aimed at
“Our internal analysis shows the network was involved in various forms of platform manipulation, targeting discussions related to Saudi Arabia and advancing their geopolitical interests on the world stage,” the Twitter safety team said in a blogpost.
One dated 11 November 2016 showed a photo of billionaire George Soros – a frequent target of conservatives – and said Trump should put him “on the FBI most wanted list
Separately on Friday, Facebook said it had blocked a network in Vietnam and the US, and focused
The social media giant said it had also thwarted a separate network targeting domestic audiences in the country of Georgia.
Facebook said the effort originating in Vietnam used the
“The people behind this activity made widespread use of fake accounts – many of which had been automatically removed by our systems – to manage pages and groups,
“The BL-focused network repeatedly violated a number of our policies, including our policies against coordinated inauthentic behavior, spam
The accounts posted memes and other content on conservative ideology and hot-button US political issues including Trump’s impeachment, elections, trade, family values, and freedom of religion, Gleicher said.
A recent report by the Oxford Internet Institute found manipulation efforts have doubled over the past two years and are being used in 56 countries.