Twitter suspends hundreds of accounts over fake protest claims
Twitter has suspended hundreds of accounts which were spreading false claims that US authorities had jammed communications during protests in Washington.
The hashtag "dcblackout" was trending across the US yesterday, having been posted around half a million times, according to The Washington Post.
It was first tweeted by an account which had just three followers, making false claims that authorities were blocking protesters in Washington from being able to communicate.
Peter Newsham, a DC Police Chief, later told the newspaper that there was no blackout “in any shape or form".
Twitter said the accounts were suspended as part of an investigation into the hashtag, and centered around its policy on stopping spam and manipulation of its site.
"We’re taking action proactively on any coordinated attempts to disrupt the public conversation around this issue," a spokesman said.
It is just the latest in a stream of steps Twitter has taken to stop false claims spreading during the unrest in the US.
Late last month, the company suspended an account which had been retweeted by President Donald Trump which appeared to be part of a group known as QAnon which believes the "deep state" is attempting to undermine the president.
Twitter has also taken measures to stop harm being incited on its site, notably hiding Mr Trump's tweet which included the phrase: "when the looting starts, the shooting starts", saying it glorified violence.
That same post was allowed on Facebook's site, with the company saying it did not violate its policies.
“People can agree or disagree on where we should draw the line, but I hope they understand our overall philosophy is that it is better to have this discussion out in the open, especially when the stakes are so high,” boss Mark Zuckerberg had said.
Staff from the social network have today been taking place in a virtual walkout against the decision. Mr Zuckerberg is expected to address concerns in a town hall later today.
Questions over the right approach to take over content moderation come as the EU kicks off a public consultation on how to regulate online platforms.
Governments, businesses and members of the public will be able to respond to the new draft rules, which are an effort to unify approaches to ecommerce sites and social networks across countries.
