Twitter removes 90,000 accounts linked to Saudi influence operation

Twitter Inc. removed almost 90,000 accounts linked to the Saudi Arabian government that researchers identified as part of a sweeping, state-backed propaganda campaign to spread their geopolitical interests.

The accounts were “amplifying messages favorable to Saudi authorities” by using their large volume to aggressively like, retweet and reply to tweets related to local and western politics, Twitter said Friday in a blog post. Thespecifically targeted discussions around Iranian sanctions and the murder of Saudi national and journalist Jamal Khashoggi, said Renee DiResta, research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory, which analyzed the tweets.

Researchers traced the source of the coordinated activity to Smaat, a Saudi-based social media and marketing company linked to the government which is controlled by the royal family. Smaat’s own accounts have been suspended, along with those of the company’s senior executives, according to the blog post.

Twitter’s decision to suspend the Saudi accounts came a month after two former Twitter employees and a Saudi national were charged by the U.S. with helping Riyadh spy on dissidents who used the social network. Among those charged was Ahmed Saad Almutairi, an executive with Smaat, who was working on behalf of the royal family, according to court filings.Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal owned about 4.9% of Twitter, according to company filings on Dec.

The campaign removed by Twitter is the type that tech companies say they are hunting down in the aftermath of the 2016 U.S. presidential election in which Russian operatives used platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Google’s YouTube to try to sway voter opinion.“coordinated inauthentic behavior” campaigns this year from countries such as Russia, Iran, China and Israel.

RevJohnboy Now man baby will start tweeting about losing followers.

AWrobley Just remove all anonymous accounts with no proper ID authentication. Kill the trolls.

thanks for that. lost half my followers

How many Russian?

❤️

90,000 is absolutely massive. Saudi intelligence also suborned two Twitter employees to spy on and unmask Twitter users who were critical of the kingdom.

Thank you, jack Twitter TwitterSupport!

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