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Twitter finds more Russian spooks with pro-Trump accounts

by on29 September 2017


Twitter finds 200 Russian accounts dedicated to Trump

Twitter says it found some 200 accounts linked to the same Russian groups that bought $100,000 worth of ads on Facebook.

The adverts appear to be aimed at sowing political unrest and manipulate U.S. voters during the presidential election. The Twitter accounts, which were taken down over the last month, were linked to 470 accounts and pages that Facebook traced to the International Research Agency, a Russian troll farm.

According to a blog post released by Twitter on Thursday, after briefing staffers on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, the groups on Facebook had 22 Twitter accounts.

Twitter found an additional 179 accounts connected to those 22. Twitter also shared information on Russian news outlet Russia Today, or RT, which has ties to the Kremlin, according to US intelligence agencies.

"Internally, we already have stricter policies for advertising campaigns on Twitter than we do for organic content. We also have existing specific policies and review mechanisms for campaign ads, but will examine them with an eye to improving them. We welcome the opportunity to work with the FEC and leaders in Congress to review and strengthen guidelines for political advertising on social media", a SpokesTwitter said 

"Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be rolling out several changes to the actions we take when we detect spammy or suspicious activity, including introducing new and escalating enforcements for suspicious logins, Tweets, and engagements, and shortening the amount of time suspicious accounts remain visible on Twitter while pending confirmation. These are not meant to be definitive solutions. We’ve been fighting against these issues for years, and as long as there are people trying to manipulate Twitter, we will be working hard to stop them", the SpokesTwitter added.

Last modified on 29 September 2017
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