Twitter, Facebook proceed to curb election manipulation by Russia, China affiliates
Twitter and Facebook on Thursday announced moves to thwart efforts to deceive or divide voters as the US nears a contentious presidential election.
Twitter unveiled new steps to avoid the spread of content from “state-affiliated media” used to advance a government’s political agenda-a move affecting key outlets from Russia and China.
Facebook, meanwhile, said it took down accounts owning a deceptive campaign out of Romania pretending to be Americans supporting US President Donald Trump.
The network targeted the united states with posts about the upcoming presidential election; the Trump campaign, conservative ideology, Christian beliefs and the far-right organization Qanon associated with conspiracy theories, according to Facebook.
San Francisco-based Twitter said it could add new labels to state-affiliated media accounts and would “no longer amplify” their tweets through its recommendation systems, in the most recent proceed to identify and limit the spread of government-led influence campaigns.
A Twitter spokesperson said outlets damaged by the brand new policy include Russian-based Sputnik and RT and China’s Xinhua, but did not give a full list.
“Unlike independent media, state-affiliated media frequently use their news coverage as a way to advance a political agenda,” Twitter explained in a released statement.
Twitter said your choice would not affect “state-financed media organizations with editorial independence,” especially citing the British-based BBC and US-based National Public Radio.
Twitter’s announcement follows a similar action by Facebook earlier this year which labeled content from media which are editorially managed by governments.
Distorting debate
The moves come amid concerns over campaigns by governments aimed at influencing elections and public sentiment in other countries through media outlets that disguise their true origins.
State-led influence campaigns were prominent on social media through the 2016 US elections and also have been seen all over the world.
A recently available report by Oxford University researchers found disinformation and conspiracy theories spread by leading media outlets from Russia and China, and also from Iran and Turkey-all of which are state-controlled or closely aligned to regimes in power.
Twitter also plans new authentication labels for “key government officials” authorized to speak with respect to the state.
“We believe that is an important step to ensure that when people see a merchant account discussing geopolitical issues from a different country, they have context on its national affiliation and are better informed about who they represent,” the statement said.
Thwarting ‘inauthentic’ content
Facebook removed 35 Facebook accounts, three pages, and 88 Instagram accounts as part of an ongoing fight against “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” according to security policy head Nathaniel Gleicher.
“The persons behind this network used fake accounts to pose as Americans, amplify and touch upon their own content, and manage pages including some posing as President Trump fan pages,” Gleicher said.
The Facebook security team determined that the experience started in Romania and centered on the US.
“We found this network as part of our investigation into suspected coordinated inauthentic behavior prior to the 2020 election in the US,” Gleicher said.
The network often reposted stories by US conservative news networks and from the Trump campaign, according to Facebook.
Facebook pages in the campaign had about 1,600 followers, while about 7,200 persons followed a number of of its Instagram accounts, the California-based internet giant reported.
Coordinated deception such as this “blurs the line between healthy public debate and manipulation,” Gleicher said while briefing reporters.
“We are able to only tackle one piece of exactly what is a whole-of-society challenge; it really is increasingly clear no organization are designed for this alone.”
He echoed a call from Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg for political leaders to establish clear rules regarding what sorts of content or behaviour shouldn't be tolerated by online platforms.
“Even though it is hard to pin down motive, the behaviour still violates our policies and we can take down the content,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what side they are on.”
