Twitter announced Friday that it has removed several thousand accounts linked to foreign states and accused of spreading false information on the social network. “ In keeping with our handling policy on our platform, we have permanently suspended all these accounts,” Twitter announced .

The social network said it had removed 267 Emirati and Egyptian accounts, 4,258 Emirati accounts, 259 Spanish accounts linked to the Popular Party (conservative), 1,019 Ecuadorian accounts and six Saudi accounts, in addition to the 200,000 Chinese accounts whose social network had already announced the suspension in August. The 267 Emirati and Egyptian accounts were involved “ in a disinformation operation targeting Qatar and other countries such as Iran” . These accounts, which had been “ created and managed” by Dot Dev, a technology company based in these two countries, “ amplified messages of support to the Saudi government . “

Accounts related to the Saudi state media deleted

Twitter also suspended 4 258 fictitious accounts from the United Arab Emirates that spread false information about the war in Yemen, in which Riyadh has been participating since 2015 in a coalition in support of power against Tehran-backed rebels. Six accounts related to Saudi state media have also been deactivated for “ their coordinated efforts to amplify messages of benefit to the Saudi government . “

According to Twitter, the accounts presented themselves as “ independent journalistic organs while publishing favorable remarks to the Saudi government” . In addition, the account of Saud al-Qahtani, former adviser to Mohammed Ben Salman at the Royal Court already inadmissible to the United States, was suspended. Regarding Spain, the 259 false accounts managed by the Popular Party “ spammed or retweeted to increase the mobilization” . The 1,019 Ecuadorian accounts were linked to Alianza País, the ruling political coalition. They “ focused on issues related to Ecuadorian laws on freedom of expression, government censorship and technology.”

Main Source - Agence France-Presse

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