As World Watches Hong Kong, Twitter and Facebook Take Down Accounts Associated with Chinese Government

(Worthy News) – After Hong Kong saw one of its biggest protests yet over the weekend, a social media war has broken out between China and U.S. technology companies over how Chinese state-sponsored media is using social media to spread misinformation and false news about the protesters.

On Monday, Twitter and Facebook, which are both blocked in China but are freely available in Hong Kong, removed accounts they said originated in China that characterized the Hong Kong protesters as violent. Twitter said many of the accounts used virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access Twitter.

Twitter said it took down more than 900 accounts that were “deliberately and specifically attempting to sow political discord in Hong Kong.” The company said it had evidence the accounts were part of “a coordinated state-backed operation.” [ Source: VOA (Read More…) ]