Published
3 years agoon
LONDON — Twitter has removed a vast network of accounts that it says is linked to the Chinese government and was pushing false information favorable to the country’s communist rulers. Beijing denied involvement Friday and said the company should instead take down accounts smearing China.
“It holds no water at all to equate China’s response to the epidemic with disinformation,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news briefing in Beijing on Friday. She said she wasn’t aware of Twitter’s takedown and the reason behind it.
“If Twitter wants to make a difference, it should shut down those accounts that have been organized and coordinated to attack and discredit China,” she said, adding that China was the “biggest victim of false information.”
Twitter also removed more than 1,000 accounts linked to a Russian media website engaging in state-backed political propaganda in Russian, and a network of 7,340 fake or compromised accounts used for “cheerleading” the ruling party in Turkey.
Turkey’s presidential communications director, Fahrettin Altun, said allegations that the accounts were fake are “untrue” and called Twitter’s move an attempt to smear Turkey’s government and the ruling party.
“The arbitrary act, hidden behind the smokescreen of transparency and freedom of expression, has demonstrated yet against that Twitter is no mere social media company but a propaganda machine with certain political and ideological inclinations,” Altun said.
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