Twitter Boots Another 10,000 Fake News Bot Accounts

Reuters reports:

Twitter has continued a crackdown on what it considers improper content by removing more than 10,000 accounts for spreading political misinformation and unrest. According to a company blog post, most of the accounts were engaged in fomenting political dissent through the spread of false information.

It said many of the accounts in the UAE, for example, “were often employing false personae and tweeting about regional issues, such as the Yemeni Civil War and the Houthi Movement.” Others were found to be part of an information operation that primarily targets Qatar and Iran, and spreads information that supported the government of Saudi Arabia.

Twitter said that the accounts it removed from China had been found to be involved in agitating against the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. In Spain, Twitter said it had suspended 259 accounts used by the Partido Popular political party to artificially boost engagement.

Yesterday Twitter also suspended hundreds of accounts linked to Saudi Arabia’s state media.