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Home Infotech/Telecom Twitter shuts over 3,000 propaganda accounts in Uganda, five other countries

Twitter shuts over 3,000 propaganda accounts in Uganda, five other countries

by Editor lll
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By Mbafan Ade –

Twitter announced on Thursday, that it has deactivated over 3,500 accounts in six countries, including Uganda, China, and Russia, for spreading pro-government misinformation.

In a statement, Twitter said that the vast majority of the accounts were part of a network that “amplified Chinese Communist Party narratives relating to the oppression of the Uyghur community in Xinjiang.”

Experts estimate that more than one million people are detained in camps in China’s northern province, which has been accused of terrible human rights atrocities against ethnic minorities.

Apart from the 2,048 accounts tied to the pro-Beijing campaign, Twitter also deactivated 112 accounts belonging to Changyu Culture, a corporation affiliated with Xinjiang’s provincial administration.

The move came a day after Facebook’s parent company, Meta, claimed it had shut down more than 500 accounts linked to a Covid-19-related Chinese influence campaign.

The accounts promoted claims from a fictitious Swiss biologist, Wilson Edwards, that the United States was interfering in efforts to identify the origins of the coronavirus. 

Chinese state media had widely quoted “Edwards” in July, although several newspapers deleted references to him after the Swiss embassy in Beijing said there was no trace of him. 

Both Twitter and Facebook are banned in China, but Beijing frequently uses both US social networks to promote its positions on the international stage. 

Beyond China, Twitter also shuttered 16 accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency, a Russian company labelled a “troll farm” by critics, which runs pro-government online influence campaigns. 

“The operation relied on a mix of inauthentic and real accounts to introduce a pro-Russia viewpoint into Central African political discourse,” Twitter said. 

AFP

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