Twitter, Facebook Target Accounts Spreading Misinformation on Hong Kong Protests--Update
19 Agosto 2019 - 03:54PM
Noticias Dow Jones
By Maria Armental
Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. took down accounts believed to be
part of a broader Chinese government campaign of disinformation
related to protests in Hong Kong.
On Monday, Twitter said it had suspended 936 accounts that it
said represented the most active portions of a "coordinated
state-backed operation" to discredit the protesters. The accounts,
Twitter said, are part of a network of about 200,000 accounts that
the company had flagged and suspended before they were largely
active on the social-media platform.
"These accounts were deliberately and specifically attempting to
sow political discord in Hong Kong, including undermining the
legitimacy and political positions of the protest movement on the
ground," Twitter wrote in a blog post.
Screenshots of posts from some suspended accounts showed violent
encounters between police and protesters and showed images of human
faces on bodies of cockroaches, according to Twitter.
Attempts to reach Chinese officials through the country's
embassy in Washington weren't immediately successful.
Although Twitter is banned in China, many people are able to
access it through proxy servers and virtual private networks.
Twitter said that some of the latest accounts flagged had accessed
its platform from unblocked IP addresses that originated in
mainland China.
Facebook said that following a tip from Twitter, it removed five
suspect accounts along with seven pages, with a reach of more than
15,000 accounts, and three groups that included more than 2,000
members.
"Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal
their identities, our investigation found links to individuals
associated with the Chinese government," Facebook said.
Facebook, which shared its analysis with law enforcement and
industry partners, said it took down the pages, groups and accounts
"based on their behavior, not the content they posted."
Social-media giants have struggled to stop misuse of their
platforms despite widespread criticism and repeated pledges to
address the problem after the 2016 presidential election. U.S.
authorities have said the 2016 meddling mainly stemmed from
Russia.
This year Facebook said it has removed coordinated inauthentic
behavior on its platform originating from India and Pakistan, the
Philippines, Russia, and Iran among other countries.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 19, 2019 16:39 ET (20:39 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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