Twitter suspends hundreds of fake Chinese accounts; Ignores human rights concerns

In a recent investigation into Chinese Olympic propaganda, the New York Times and ProPublica found hundreds of fake accounts and bots on Twitter. A company spokesperson confirmed this to Insider. According to the outlets, the investigation discovered 3,000 ‘fake Twitter accounts’ that appeared to be coordinated to promote the Olympics by sharing similar state media posts, many of which depicted a rosy picture of the Olympics that glossed over controversies regarding human rights abuses in China, the outlets reported.

In a statement to Insider, a Twitter spokesperson said hundreds of accounts included in the investigation’s findings were suspended for violating the ‘platform manipulation and spam policy,’ which prohibits’ coordinated activity that uses multiple accounts, fake accounts, and automation to attempt to artificially influence conversations’.

https://twitter.com/SpicyPandaAcc/status/1491648080730796033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1491648080730796033%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.in%2Ftech%2Fnews%2Ftwitter-suspended-hundreds-of-fake-chinese-propaganda-accounts-that-promoted-the-beijing-olympics-while-glossing-over-human-rights-controversies%2Farticleshow%2F89709816.cms%3Futm_source%3Dmsnutm_medium%3Dreferralutm_campaign%3Dmsn_content_partnership

‘If we have clear evidence of state-backed information operations, our first priority is to enforce our rules and remove accounts engaging in this behavior,’ the spokesperson said. ‘When our investigations are complete, we disclose all accounts and content in our information operations archive.’ Spice Panda, one of the only active Twitter accounts that remains active, criticized the boycott of the Beijing Olympics in a post on February 9.

‘No matter how hard Uncle Liar wields its deceiving propaganda weapon to stain the Olympics, he can not stop the world’s enthusiasm toward #BeijingWinterOlympics,’ the cartoon’s caption says. The cartoon received just 11 likes and two retweets from nearly 300 fake accounts, according to the New York Times. According to the report, irregular engagement like this is evidence of inauthentic network mobilization.

#BoycottBeijing2022, the hashtag for the movement referred to in the illustration, has been used in protest of China’s human rights violations, including its treatment of Uyghur Muslims. Twitter announced in December that it had deleted 2,048 accounts that spread Uyghur-related narratives relating to the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.