{"id":20561,"date":"2019-09-20T17:35:53","date_gmt":"2019-09-21T01:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/twitter-removes-thousands-of-accounts-for-manipulating-their-platform\/"},"modified":"2019-09-20T17:35:53","modified_gmt":"2019-09-21T01:35:53","slug":"twitter-removes-thousands-of-accounts-for-manipulating-their-platform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/twitter-removes-thousands-of-accounts-for-manipulating-their-platform\/","title":{"rendered":"Twitter Removes Thousands Of Accounts For Manipulating Their Platform"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Peter Talbot<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n <\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n Enlarge this image<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

\n In 2018, Twitter released an archive of thousands of accounts that the platform determined were involved in potentially state-backed information campaigns. Since then, it has continued to make announcements of its efforts to remove accounts spreading disinformation.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Denis Charlet\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

<\/b>
\n hide caption<\/b><\/b>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

toggle caption<\/b><\/b>\n <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Denis Charlet\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Twitter permanently suspended thousands of accounts in its ongoing effort to fight the spread of disinformation and political discord on its platform, the company announced Friday. <\/p>\n

The accounts originated from six different countries. And they included the Twitter account used by Saud al-Qahtani, a former adviser to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and suspected of being involved in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s all a part of Twitter’s seemingly endless task of fighting disinformation.<\/p>\n

The Twitter accounts came from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Ecuador and China, according to Twitter’s blog post<\/a>. Groups of suspended accounts were involved in various information campaigns, using tactics like spreading content through fake accounts and spamming through retweets.<\/p>\n

The accounts were suspended for violating Twitter’s policy on platform manipulation, which Twitter defines as large-scale aggressive or deceptive activity that misleads or disrupts people’s social media activity.<\/p>\n

Twitter has been suspending or removing accounts linked to this sort of activity throughout the year. In August, the company suspended around 200,000 accounts it reported were used to discredit pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Tech companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google have been combating disinformation campaigns for a few years in response criticism in the wake of reports that foreign governments exploit their platforms for their own agendas<\/a>. <\/p>\n

So far, the companies’ progress has been slow, said Nina Jankowicz, a global fellow at the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute in Washington D.C.<\/p>\n