Twitter suspends over 10,000 accounts
Company says users promoted political discord, most operating in China and United Arab Emirates
Twitter on Friday continued its crackdown on what it considers improper content by removing more than 10,000 accounts for spreading political misinformation and unrest.
Twitter said the accounts included more than 4,000 found to be operating out of the United Arab Emirates, and 4,000 others from China.
More than 1,000 accounts came from Ecuador, and the company also shut down accounts from Saudi Arabia, Spain and Egypt. According to a company blog post, most of the accounts were engaged in fomenting political dissent through the spread of false information.
For example, Twitter said many of the accounts in the UAE “were often employing false personae and tweeting about regional issues, such as the Yemeni Civil War and the Houthi Movement.”
Others were found to be part of an information operation that primarily targets Qatar
and Iran, and spreads information that supported the government of Saudi Arabia.
Twitter said that the accounts it removed from China were found to be involved in agitating against the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. These moves follow more than 200,000 fake accounts being suspended in August for the same reason.
The actions Twitter took
Friday came a day after the company unveiled a new option that allows users to hide replies to their tweets. When the sender clicks on a menu on tweet, a set of options will come up — including “Hide Reply,” which prevents anyone involved in the conversation from seeing the hidden tweet.
Twitter said the new hide reply feature will initially be available as a test on tweets in the United States and Japan.