Twitter shared information on more than 200 blocked accounts connected to Russia when it met with congressional investigators on Thursday.
The company was in Washington, D.C. to discuss Russia’s harnessing of social media to meddle in the 2016 election. In a blog post on the social media company’s meeting with the Senate and House intelligence committees, Twitter said it “took action” against 201 accounts tied to a Russian troll farm — including 22 that were linked to Facebook’s recent fake news investigation.
“Of the roughly 450 accounts that Facebook recently shared as a part of their review, we concluded that 22 had corresponding accounts on Twitter. All of those identified accounts had already been or immediately were suspended from Twitter for breaking our rules, most for violating our prohibitions against spam,” Twitter said in the blog post.
“In addition, from those accounts we found an additional 179 related or linked accounts, and took action on the ones we found in violation of our rules.”
Earlier this month, Facebook revealed nearly 500 accounts with Russian origins that spent upwards of $100,000 on fake ads before and after the 2016 election. Twitter has continued to be a go-to source for disinformation, with The New York Times reporting on Wednesday the platform was used last weekend by Russian bots to spread hashtags related to the NFL’s national anthem protests.
The company also shared more than $270,000 worth of ads purchased by RT — the state-owned Russian media outlet that has been under fire to register as a foreign agent with the Justice Department — in its meeting with Congress.
Moving forward, Twitter said its updating its tools to weed out fake news, including automation to detect “non-human activity patterns” and spam accounts connected to a single source.
9 People #BlockedByTrump on Twitter, From Chrissy Teigen to Stephen King (Photos)
While Donald Trump likes to dole out criticism on Twitter, he certainly doesn't like to receive it. And lately, he's even blocking people for doing it. Here is the (growing) list of noteworthy people who have been #BlockedByTrump on his favorite social media platform.
Chrissy Teigen
After years of trolling him, this model finally got #BlockedByTrump in July 2017. Apparently, what broke POTUS' back wasn't being called a "twat;" it was being told, "lol no one likes you."
Stephen King The horror novelist and frequent Trump critic alerted fans in June 2017 that he had beed blocked by POTUS. Fortunately, King won't have to miss out: "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling offered to DM Trump tweets directly to him.
"Morning Joe" hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski President Trump didn't explicitly block Scarborough and Brzezinski, but he did unfollow them. The "Morning Joe" duo are politically conservative, but emerged as vocal Trump critics in late 2016.
MSNBC
Bess Kalb Trump blocked the "Jimmy Kimmel Live" writer after she hurled a few jokes at him. Afterward, Kalb tweeted that she was mortified yet unsurprised "that the leader of the free world could be so wounded by the gentle ribbing of a comedy writer." She also called Trump a "snowflake."
VoteVets Trump blocked the progressive veterans advocacy group after it harshly criticized his Muslim travel ban and his potential links with Russia. But VoteVets was unfazed, later tweeting, "The Commander in Chief can block @VoteVets, the voice of 500k military veterans and families, but we will NOT be silenced."
Twitter
Holly O'Reilly The musician/activist was probably #BlockedByTrump after tweeting a photo of him and an all-black-clad Melania with the caption, "Dress for the job you want. #widow," or calling him a "bloody idiot." O'Reilly claims Trump violated her constitutional rights by blocking her, and after it happened, told Time, "It's like FDR took my radio away."
Twitter
Andy Signore The Emmy-nominated writer was incensed after Trump took London Mayor Sadiq Khan's words out of context, then claimed Khan didn't care about the victims of the London terror attacks. So Signore slammed Trump on Twitter - and was blocked in return.
Twitter
John Niven The "Kill Your Friends" author is a #BlockedByTrump O.G; Trump blocked him sometime around November 9, 2016. Niven turned a screenshot of the block notification into a badge of honor, tweeting "I'm blocked on Twitter by the President of the United States. Strange days."
Twitter
Jimmy Smagula This actor was #BlockedByTrump, but not by first daughter Ivanka, a fact he used to his advantage after she tweeted a widely-mocked tribute to "my LGBT friends" at the start of Pride Month. "TELL YOUR A****** FATHER AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT" he said on June 2.
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The president has been increasingly busy curating who, and who cannot see him on his favorite social media platform
While Donald Trump likes to dole out criticism on Twitter, he certainly doesn't like to receive it. And lately, he's even blocking people for doing it. Here is the (growing) list of noteworthy people who have been #BlockedByTrump on his favorite social media platform.