Source: Yahoo News
This week, Twitter reportedly removed hundreds of accounts, specifically fake Chinese propaganda accounts and bots. They were said to be spreading propaganda on 2022 Beijing Olympics on the platform as the event was taking place. Investigations were initiated by New York Times and ProPublica. They tried to dig deeper into why twitter had been removing these accounts from their social media platform.
These investigations by the organisations reportedly discovered the Twitter accounts which appeared rather “inauthentic.” They looked like they were in coordination to “promote the Olympics” by reposting state media posts which had similar comments. Most of these depicted an ideal version of the Games that described certain controversies. These controversies included the abuse of human rights in China.
A spokesperson from Twitter clarified that more than hundreds of accounts were suspended according to the investigation. They were in violation of “platform manipulation and spam policy,” which contains certain protocols. It essentially prohibits activities that are in coordination to try and “artificially influence conversations” by making use of multiple accounts, fake ones and in “automation.”
“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.”
The only account left active out of the report accounts on Twitter was one called “Spicy Panda.” They retaliated on the boycott imposed on the Beijing Olympics. They posted a tweet on Wednesday, February 9.
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.com%2Ftwitter-suspends-hundreds-of-bots-posting-chinese-olympic-propaganda-2022-2
The cartoon posted by the page created a lot of buzz around the social media platform. Around 300 of those “fake-appearing” Twitter accounts reposted the same, despite having only received two retweets and just 11 likes. This was first reported by the New York Times, arguing how such irregular engagements strongly indicates “inauthentic network mobilisations.”
The hashtag #BoycottBeijing2022 had been referenced in the cartoon illustration and has been used extensively all around the globe. Twitter users everywhere are using it as a way to protest against China’s human violations. This includes the brutal detention and genocide of Uyghur Muslims which took place.
About months ago i.e., in December 2021, Twitter had reported removed a vast network of 2,048 accounts on it platform. Twitter listed these to be similarly in violation of China’s human rights. The “amplified” the narratives of he Chinese Communist Party. These “narratives” were related to the treatment of the said Uyghur population in the location of Xinjiang.
