Twitter removes 5,929 Saudi accounts it deems state backed
NEW YORK — Twitter has identified and removed nearly 6,000 accounts that it said were part of a coordinated effort by Saudi government agencies and individuals to advance the country's geopolitical interests.
Twitter's and Facebook's announcements underscore the fact that misinformation concerns aren't limited to the U.S. and Russia. He said the Russian efforts in 2016 showed it was possible to “actually change public attitudes through the targeted use of social media." The 5,929 accounts removed and added to the archives are part of a larger group of 88,000 accounts engaged in “spammy behavior” across a wide range of topics. But Twitter isn't disclosing all of them because some might be legitimate accounts taken over through hacking.
“It's really clear we have to do something about it,” he said. “It can't just be after the fact. We have to get better about detecting in real time.” In September, Twitter suspended the account of the crown prince’s former top adviser, Saud al-Qahtani, who also served as director of the cyber security federation. As with Friday's announcement, Twitter said that account had violated the company's platform manipulation policy.
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