Twitter recently removed hundreds of fake Chinese accounts for violating its policy forbidding “coordinated activity that attempts to artificially influence conversations through the use of multiple fake accounts and automation.”
The investigation phased out 3,000 inauthentic Twitter accounts that appeared to be coordinating to bolster the communist country’s image through social media posts, many of which painted a rosy image of the Winter Olympics Games that fueled controversies involving human rights abuses in the country.
Commenting on the matter, a Twitter spokesperson said:
If we have clear evidence of state-backed information operations, our first priority is to enforce our rules and remove accounts engaging in this behavior, however, once the investigation is complete we’ll disclose all accounts and content in our information operations archive.
An account dubbed Spicy Panda was cheerleading for China online, while simultaneously accusing the US of smearing Xi Jinping-led nation through a campaign of falsified facts.
“No matter how hard Uncle Liar wields its deceiving propaganda weapon to stain the Olympics, he can not stop the world’s enthusiasm toward #BeijingWinterOlympics,” read a Spicy Panda post from February 9.
The post was accompanied by a cartoon of Uncle Sam, screaming into a microphone and wearing a hat tabbed rumors-creating machine.
The post was shared almost 300 times and received only 11 likes and two retweets, indicating that the network was mobilized through inauthentic means to promote the message.
Additionally, a Foreign Agents Registration Act filing revealed that the Peoples’ Republic of China paid Vippi Media Inc. to hire the influencers as part of a marketing campaign to promote the Olympic games. Despite the country’s apparent attempts to control the narrative of the games, the event was rocked by controversy
For instance, athletes who were forced to quarantine in hotels complained about not being given enough food, and that the meals they were served were unsuitable for consumption. While, some athletes claimed to have been denied training equipment to prepare for their events, altogether.