Twitter, Facebook Target Accounts Spreading Misinformation on Hong Kong Protests--2nd Update
19 Agosto 2019 - 6:24PM
Noticias Dow Jones
By Robert McMillan and Maria Armental
Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. suspended accounts they believe
to be part of a Chinese effort to undermine antigovernment protests
in Hong Kong, marking the first time the companies have pointed to
China as a source of disinformation campaigns, company
representatives said on Monday.
Twitter said it took down 936 accounts linked to a "significant
state-backed information operation" originating in China.
"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.
Facebook said that following a tip from Twitter, it removed five
accounts along with seven pages, with a reach of more than 15,000
accounts, as well as 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 and Twitter are blocked in China by a
government-controlled national firewall. That suggests the latest
information operations were likely part of a government-sanctioned
effort to influence global opinion, said Graham Brookie, director
of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab.
"They are testing what is effective as well as what is accepted
or not pushed back on by the international community," he said.
Hong Kong has seen a wave of protests in the past two months as
a pro-democracy movement stepped up pressure on the city's
Beijing-backed leader, Carrie Lam, to enter into dialogue to
resolve the crisis. Protesters and police have squared off in some
of the demonstrations.
Mainland China has repeatedly suggested that it could deploy its
own security forces, and even its military, to restore order in the
semiautonomous Chinese city if local officials can't manage it
themselves.
Pressure has been mounting for Facebook and Twitter to counter
state-sponsored disinformation campaigns after accusations that
Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The
companies said in January that they had removed hundreds of fake
accounts from Iran and Venezuela spreading misinformation on their
social-media platforms.
Twitter also said on Monday that it would stop running
advertising from state media and that it had removed at least one
widely circulated advertisement by China's state-run Xinhua News
Agency that criticized the protest movement.
Even without advertising, China's state news organizations have
considerable reach on Twitter. Xinhua has 12.6 million Twitter
followers
Russian state news outlet RT has 2.9 million followers. It has
been blocked from running ads on Twitter since 2017.
Representatives of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.,
didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
China closely monitors and censors internet traffic within its
country, including blocking popular western social media sites. The
U.S. government and some independent security researchers have
accused China of cyberattacks targeting companies, academia and
federal agencies. China has denied those allegations.
Facebook said it shared its analysis with law enforcement and
industry partners. It said it took down the pages, groups and
accounts "based on their behavior, not the content they posted."
The company said it was making progress identifying behavior that
isn't permitted on its site, but called it an "ongoing
challenge."
Twitter said the suspended accounts represented the most active
portions of a coordinated state-backed disinformation campaign
against the protesters. The accounts, it said, are part of a larger
network of about 200,000 accounts that it suspended "before they
were substantially active on the service."
Twitter said some of the Chinese accounts were using unblocked
internet addresses originating in China, a sign that they were
likely operating with the permission of the Chinese government,
according to Mr. Brookie.
Screenshots of posts from some suspended accounts showed violent
encounters between police and protesters and images of human faces
on bodies of cockroaches, according to images posted by
Facebook.
Twitter's action is among the most sweeping for the platform.
The company said in June that it had taken down 4,779 accounts
linked to Iran, the most from any country.
Write to Robert McMillan at Robert.Mcmillan@wsj.com and Maria
Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 19, 2019 19:09 ET (23:09 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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