Ahead of vote, Twitter says accounts removed over 'disinformation'

Twitter on Saturday said it deleted a "series of accounts" that attempted to share disinformation, ahead of crucial midterm elections, as media reports said thousands of accounts were axed.

The social media company "removed a series of accounts for engaging in attempts to share disinformation in an automated fashion -- a violation of our policies," it confirmed to AFP without giving a number.

Twitter said it has established "open lines of communication" for state election officials, Republican and Democratic campaign officials, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Reports said many of the accounts were posing as Democrats, posting tweets encouraging US voters to sit out Tuesday's ballot.

CNN said the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had alerted Twitter to the accounts, which were removed in late September and early October.

For months, Twitter has sought to eliminate automated and bogus accounts designed to manipulate the public conversation on the platform, in response to concerns over Russian interference in the 2016 election.

In October it said its number of active users fell by nine million in the previous quarter as a result of these efforts.

US President Donald Trump recently complained that Twitter was removing some of his followers.

Related Links
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

Brazil's Bolsonaro gets to work on hardline agenda
Rio De Janeiro (AFP) Oct 30, 2018
Brazil's far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro started rolling out key points in his hardline agenda Tuesday, including a move to merge the agriculture and environment ministries that activists warned would imperil the Amazon rainforest. The former army captain huddled with his inner circle at the home of a wealthy backer in Rio de Janeiro to start forming what advisor Gustavo Bebianno called "a combat vanguard" for the new administration. But as Bolsonaro made plans for his government follow ... read more