Twitter has permanently removed over 32,000 state-linked accounts which were part of three distinct operations from China, Russia, and Turkey spreading political propaganda favourable to the ruling government of these countries, and critical of dissidents and protesters. The accounts were suspended for various violations of Twitter's platform manipulation policies. Anti-Hong Kong protest content, regimented tweets showed accounts were suspicious 150,000 amplifier accounts also removed: From China, 23,750 accounts comprising of the "highly engaged core network" were deleted. Twitter said these were "largely caught early and failed to achieve considerable traction on the service" with few followers and engagement. In addition, 150,000 "amplifier" accounts that were boosting this content were removed. A majority of these accounts had little to no follower counter and were strategically designed to "artificially inflate impression metrics and engage with the core accounts". Put together, both sets of accounts were tweeting predominantly in Chinese languages and spreading geopolitical narratives favourable to the Chinese government, while pushing "deceptive narratives about the political dynamics in Hong Kong". Who the network targeted: While Twitter is blocked in China, researchers at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute found that the campaign was targeted at Chinese-speaking people outside the country "with the intention of influencing perceptions on key issues, including the Hong Kong protests, exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui and, to a lesser extent Covid-19 and Taiwan". Active period: Tweets were posted at Beijing working hours and dropped off on weekends "clearly suggested coordination and inauthenticity". Content was anti- Hong Kong protesters and exile…
