Twitter removed almost 6,000 accounts originating in Saudi Arabia for engaging in "state-backed" platform manipulation, the company said in a statement on Friday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th December, 2019) Twitter removed almost 6,000 accounts originating in Saudi Arabia for engaging in "state-backed" platform manipulation, the company said in a statement on Friday."Today, we are sharing comprehensive data about 5,929 accounts which we have removed for violating our platform manipulation policies. Rigorous investigations by our Site Integrity team have allowed us to attribute these accounts to a significant state-backed information operation on Twitter originating in Saudi Arabia," Twitter said.
The company accused the network of various forms of platform manipulation, targeting discussions related to Saudi Arabia and advancing the kingdom's geopolitical interests on the world stage. Most of the content from this network was in Arabic, but a portion of it appealed to Western audiences, Twitter said.
"Primarily, accounts were amplifying messages favorable to Saudi authorities, mainly through inauthentic engagement tactics such as aggressive liking, retweeting and replying," the statement read.
Investigations traced the source of the activity to Smaat, a social media marketing and management company based in Saudi Arabia. Twitter claims that Smaat managed a range of accounts for high-profile individuals and government agencies in Saudi Arabia.
"We have permanently suspended Smaat's access to our service as a result, as well as the Twitter accounts of Smaat's senior executives," the statement said.
In November, two former Twitter employees were accused in the United States of spying for Saudi Arabia by providing information on decedents and critics of the kingdom's authorities.
