Shortly after Twitter users noticed a deliberate targeting of accounts promoting China’s misinformation on Hong Kong protests, the social media platform has officially confirmed removal and suspension of thousands of accounts believed to be tied to China.
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Attributing it to a noticeable “state-backed information operation” that aimed at targeting the Hong Kong protests against China’s crackdown on activists from the semi-autonomous region, Twitter’s campaign included the closure of accounts believed to originate from the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Meanwhile, Facebook has followed the footsteps of Twitter and removed a large number of Chinese government-backed accounts spreading disinformation about the protests in Hong Kong.
However, both companies have faced accusations of censorship and hypocrisy.
Look what happened to one of the most informative Twitter accounts on Hongkong issue, owned by a person living in Hong Kong and with plenty of data to show us!
Pure, blatant, flagrant and disgusting CENSORSHIP in this fucked up WESTERN WORLD where zombies believe to be free... pic.twitter.com/32X8Zkc5yt— ???́? ?????? (@lgnomada) August 18, 2019
Social media activists who have been supporting Hong Kong protesters and their rights to demand democracy have also criticized the companies decision defending freedoms of speech.
Twitter and Facebook announced they found and removed a large network of Chinese government-backed accounts spreading disinformation about the protests in Hong Kong.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) August 20, 2019
This is just one example of how authoritarian regimes use social media to manipulate people, at home and abroad. https://t.co/PB2W4iehxr
This is believed to follow a couple of tweets sharing pro-China accounts that are spreading misinformation related to Hong Kong protests. They have also accused twitter of receiving money from China’s government to promote its state-run stories.
Every day I go out and see stuff with my own eyes, and then I go to report it on Twitter and see promoted tweets saying the opposite of what I saw. Twitter is taking money from Chinese propaganda outfits and running these promoted tweets against the top Hong Kong protest hashtags pic.twitter.com/6Wb0Km6GOb
— Pinboard (@Pinboard) August 17, 2019
You’ll notice that a sudden rush of “pro-Beijing” / anti-#HongKong protestor comments regarding the crisis here are from new Twitter accounts with randomly generated number handles. There’s been a significant troll campaign... pic.twitter.com/MvKeau5W3u
— Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) August 12, 2019
The conversation on social media companies’ is raising fears that censorship is returning to western culture and western society.
In the meantime, protests in Hong Kong are still ongoing for the 11th week in a row in response to a proposed extradition bill, which has now been suspended but has evolved into a more demanding pro-democracy movement.
