Twitter Suspends More Accounts for ‘Engaging in Coordinated Manipulation’

Twitter has announced that following their suspension of 284 accounts for engaging in “coordinated manipulation,” the site has banned a further 486 accounts for sharing “divisive commentary,” including many based in the United States.

Last week, Twitter suspended 284 accounts on their platform for engaging in “coordinated manipulation.” Today Twitter announced that a further 486 accounts have been banned, making a total of 770 accounts banned from the platform in the past two weeks specifically for what Twitter alleges is manipulation.

Since our initial suspensions last Tuesday, we have continued our investigation, further building our understanding of these networks. In addition, we suspended an additional 486 accounts for violating the policies outlined last week. This brings the total suspended to 770.

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) August 27, 2018

Approximately 100 of the accounts recently banned by Twitter originated from the U.S. according to the company. Many of these accounts were reportedly less than a year old and were banned for sharing “divisive commentary.” 867 tweets were attributed to the 100 accounts, which had a combined follower account of approximately 1,268. The company chose to highlight these example accounts despite their tiny following and reach on the platform.

Twitter shared examples of the “divisive commentary” tweeted by the accounts, much of which was anti-Trump, corroborating similar reports from Facebook that foreign actors on their platform had attempted to spread anti-Trump propaganda to further create division and conflict within the U.S.

Fewer than 100 of the 770 suspended accounts claimed to be located in the U.S. and many of these were sharing divisive social commentary. On average, these 100 Tweeted 867 times, were followed by 1, 268 accounts, and were less than a year old. Examples below. pic.twitter.com/LQhbvFjxSo

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) August 27, 2018

Twitter Safety said in a statement: “As with prior investigations, we are committed to engaging with other companies and relevant law enforcement entities. Our goal is to assist investigations into these activities and where possible, we will provide the public with transparency and context on our efforts.”

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey stated in a recent interview that “election integrity” is one of the site’s main focuses going forward. “Election integrity is our first priority this year,” Dorsey said. He further elaborated that the company was working on software to combat bot accounts on the platform: “We need to make sure that we are considering not just policy changes, but also product changes to help alleviate some of these concerns,” he said.

When asked if conservative rhetoric on the platform was more extreme than liberal rhetoric, Dorsey stated: “We need to look at behaviors, when people are trying to shut down the voices of others. People are trying to harass others. And that’s independent of a viewpoint.”