The ‘spammy network’ of Chinese Twitter accounts meant to ‘sow discord in Hong Kong’
- Two of the suspended accounts promoted themselves as news sources
- US company also says it won’t take advertising money from state media
Twitter said on Monday that it would no longer take advertising dollars from state-controlled media, a move that would target paid campaigns by Chinese state outlets as they ramp up the rhetoric against protests in Hong Kong.
“This policy will apply to news media entities that are either financially or editorially controlled by the state,” it said. “Any affected accounts will be free to continue to use Twitter to engage in public conversation, just not our advertising products.”
The announcement came as the US company suspended 936 accounts originating in China for “deliberately and specifically attempting to sow political discord in Hong Kong” as part of a “coordinated state-backed campaign” to undermine the city’s pro-democracy movement.
The accounts – part of a “larger, spammy network” of around 200,000 now-suspended accounts – were pulled offline as Hong Kong enters its 11th week of anti-government protests, triggered by an extradition bill that has been shelved but not withdrawn.
At least two of the hundreds of accounts suspended by Twitter marketed themselves as news sources – the Twitter user @ctcc507 posted anti-protest and pro-police content to nearly 15,000 followers under the name “Dream News”, and a similarly aligned user @HKpoliticalnew used the Chinese name “HK Political Witness” to share content to some 22,500 followers. These accounts were amplified by other users originating from mainland China that have since been suspended.