Chennai: Twitter said it has removed more than 170,000 accounts tied to a Beijing-backed influence operation that deceptively spread messages favorable to the Chinese government, including about the coronavirus.
The popular microblogging company also removed two smaller state-backed operations which it attributed to Russia and Turkey, both focused on domestic audiences.
Twitter said that these accounts were “spreading geopolitical narratives favorable to the Communist Party of China” and were removed for violating the platform’s policies on manipulation.
Twitter said the suspended accounts tweeted predominantly in Chinese languages. Though, Twitter is officially blocked in China and people access the social media site via a VPN connection.
“They were tweeting predominantly in Chinese languages and spreading geopolitical narratives favorable to the Communist Party of China, while continuing to push deceptive narratives about the political dynamics in Hong Kong,” Twitter wrote in its analysis.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) — a Canberra based think-tank — analysed the dataset ahead of the announcement and said the network was primarily looking to sway views within the global Chinese diaspora.