Twitter Removes 9,000 Accounts Pushing Coronavirus Propaganda Praising the United Arab Emirates

An anonymous reader quotes a report from BuzzFeed News: On April 2, Twitter took down a pro-United Arab Emirates network of accounts that was pushing propaganda about the coronavirus pandemic and criticizing Turkey's military intervention in Libya. Previously tied to marketing firms in the region, parts of this network were removed by Facebook and Twitter last year. The network was made up of roughly 9,000 accounts, according to disinformation research firm DFRLab and independent researcher Josh Russell. Although it promoted narratives in line with the political stances of the governments of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, its origins were unclear.

Many Twitter handles contained alphanumeric characters instead of names, and many did not post photos. Accounts that did have profile pictures often used images of Indian models. One video pushed by the fake accounts voiced support for the Chinese government during the peak of the coronavirus outbreak in China in February. The video remains online, but lost over 4,000 retweets and likes after the takedown. The video now has four retweets.

The bot network also amplified a video of a woman thanking the government of the UAE for transporting Yemeni students out of Wuhan, China. Today, that video, which is also still online, went from having nearly 4,500 retweets to having 70. Spreading propaganda about the coronavirus didn't seem to have been the network's focus. The accounts, some of which posed as journalists and news outlets, amplified an article about the UAE government's disapproval of the Libyan prime minister and boosted criticism of Turkey's support of militias in Libya.

until i read the "United Arab Emirates" part ...

[znrt]

... i was afraid trump and his minions had been banned from twitter. turns out it was about a different set of clowns.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Simpler solution

[techpeon]

Isn't there a simpler solution to all this crap on twitter - why not just delete twitter itself?

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[unixisc]

I don't have it on any of my devices, but unfortunately, there's hardly an alternative to them either on the App store or on Google Play

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[Opportunist]

That's unpossible! This media outlet is kriegswichtig for our orange in command.

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[GuB-42]

Twitter is just a platform where people can publish small messages.
And if you follow people with controversial political opinions you are going to get controversial political tweets. But if you follow technical people, you are going to have technical tweets. If you follow a friend of yours who like to post pictures of their food... you get the idea.

For example I follow John Carmack [twitter.com] on Twitter. More than half of his posts are insightful comments about programming, VR, video games, etc... There is an occasion

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Propaganda about Propaganda

[Uberbah]

Anyone else getting tired of this crap? Note the weasel words:

Many Twitter handles contained alphanumeric characters instead of names, and many did not post photos. Accounts that did have profile pictures often used images of Indian models. One video pushed by the fake accounts voiced support for the Chinese government during the peak of the coronavirus outbreak in China in February. The video remains online, but lost over 4,000 retweets and likes after the takedown. The video now has four retweets.

Yeah, how many is "many" and "one" out of those 9,000 accounts? As is usually the case, these purges are of people who go against establishment narrative, like criticizing the Turkish invasion of Syria, which is illegal and unjustifiable.

Re:Propaganda about Propaganda

[ISayWeOnlyToBePolite]

Anyone else getting tired of this crap? Note the weasel words:

Many Twitter handles contained alphanumeric characters instead of names, and many did not post photos. Accounts that did have profile pictures often used images of Indian models. One video pushed by the fake accounts voiced support for the Chinese government during the peak of the coronavirus outbreak in China in February. The video remains online, but lost over 4,000 retweets and likes after the takedown. The video now has four retweets.

Yeah, how many is "many" and "one" out of those 9,000 accounts? As is usually the case, these purges are of people who go against establishment narrative, like criticizing the Turkish invasion of Syria, which is illegal and unjustifiable.

Yes! The botnet was independently verified by at least 3 reasearchers (+buzzfeed), while your claims are substantiated in no way whatsoever.

"The network of accounts was first reported to Twitter in December 2019 by Stanford Internet Observatory. Meanwhile, it was independently discovered in March 2020 by Indiana-based researcher Josh Russell, while analyzing Twitter posting patterns regarding COVID-19. The accounts were shared with the DFRLab and BuzzFeed for analysis. The DFRLab confirmed its coordinated nature by reviewing accounts characteristics using its Twelve Ways to Spot a Bot methodology."

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[Anonymous Coward]

I replied to one verified (a blue check - to use the slang) woman saying that she should get a 'shout out' for being a sex worker and therefore having a strong immune system... and that was helping stop the virus.

I replied that she's wrong, stupid and dangerous - and that people probably shouldn't be listening as there's a reason she has to fuck for a living.

Banned.

So much for 'fighting misinformation'

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[CoolDiscoRex]

Newspeak is information. All other speak is misinformation. You are hereby cancelled.

Good thing you’re an Anonymous Coward or it might have tried to cost you your job.

Dissenters must starve.

Their families too.

All lives of value speak newspeak, all others must be eliminated for the dream of diversity and tolerance to be realized. Some may have to suffer to realize the dream, but they’ve already considered this, and sunrise, such an outcome is acceptable.

“We have to have total clarity abo

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[CoolDiscoRex]

these purges are of people who go against establishment narrative,

Yep, you noticed too, eh

History is repeating itself, as it always does and always will.

The bourgeoisie has been whipped into a self-righteous furor, and oh hey, what do you know, they’ve identified an evil group to scapegoat. Imaging that. It’s almost like it’s all been done before a gigazillion times.

But this time, their hatred is justified. I mean ... orange ... Trump ... racist ... homophobe ... misogynistic anti-ist

Meanwhile...

[chrylis]

...all the pro-CCP socks are live and chattering, never mind that Twitter is blocked in China and half of them list their locations as on the Chinese mainland.

What about all the MSM China Sockpuppets?

[Chas]

When will THOSE fuckwads be getting yanked?

Oh wait. That's the Propaganda Wing!
SHH! Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
FNORD! FNORD! FNORD! FNORD!

Pro Beijing despite not being in China

[unixisc]

So Twitter deletes tweets from President Bolsonairo of Brazil, and deletes accounts that are pro Emirates: however, it has nothing to do against Chinese tweets that blame the US for being the cause of the virus (despite the fact that Twitter is banned in China)

I just hope Twitter isn't around at the other end of this shutdown

Reddit OTOH

[BanHammer]

has gone mental.It was bad earlier but they are totally crazy now,and Chinese Propaganda is being circulated freely. Anti-American sentiments are more than normal too