Tag: social media

China used Twitter, Facebook more than ever for Xinjiang Propaganda in 2020: Research
1Apr By Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

China used Twitter, Facebook more than ever for Xinjiang Propaganda in 2020: Research

A new research by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has said that the Chinese government’s propaganda activity on Twitter and Facebook over its policies toward ethnic minorities in Xinjiang reached an all-time high in 2020, as Beijing sought to portray its approach, including use of widespread internment camps, as beneficial to the remote northwestern region.According to the research, the frequency of tweets about Xinjiang from Chinese state media and diplomatic Twitter accounts increased to an average of nearly 500 tweets per month in 2020, up from about 280 per month in 2019.“Since early 2020, there’s been a stark increase in the Chinese Government and state media’s use of US social media networks to push alternative narratives and disinformation about the situation in Xinjiang. ...
Read More
Facebook to limit Myanmar military-controlled pages for spreading misinformation
15Feb By Mike TrudellNo Comments
World

Facebook to limit Myanmar military-controlled pages for spreading misinformation

Treating the situation in Myanmar as an emergency, Facebook on Friday said that it has decided to reduce pages controlled by the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) on grounds of spreading misinformation.Facebook said that it will remove misinformation claiming that there was widespread fraud or foreign interference in the 2020 elections.“We are closely monitoring the rapidly evolving situation in Myanmar, and are in close communication with governments, institutions and non-governmental organisations that care deeply about Myanmar’s future,” said Facebook.On February 12, Facebook released a detailed statement regarding the actions undertaken to protect free speech in Myanmar and limit pages and accounts controlled by the military.For Myanmar citizens, Facebook is the main source of news and a pla...
Read More
Chinese embassy in US retweets Trump’s election fraud claim, blames hackers
10Dec By Mike TrudellNo Comments
China, Singapore, World

Chinese embassy in US retweets Trump’s election fraud claim, blames hackers

In a major blunder, the Chinese embassy in the US retweeted President Donald Trump's tweet, in which he accused the Democrats of cheating in the presidential election. However, later the embassy said that its official Twitter account was hacked.Taking to Twitter, Trump wrote, "If somebody cheated in the Election, which the Democrats did, why wouldn't the Election be immediately overturned? How can a Country be run like this?"The post carrying a Twitter warning that the claim of election fraud is "disputed" was retweeted by the official account for the Chinese government's presence in the US.The embassy then tweeted saying: "The Chinese Embassy twitter account was hacked this afternoon and we condemn such an act. For clarification, the Embassy didn’t do any retweeting on Dec.9."This comes d...
Read More
Facebook removes several Pakistani accounts over ‘coordinated inauthentic behaviour’
30Sep By Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

Facebook removes several Pakistani accounts over ‘coordinated inauthentic behaviour’

Social media giant Facebook removed 453 accounts, 103 Pages, 78 Groups and 107 Instagram accounts operated from Pakistan for 'coordinated inauthentic behaviour' and focused on 'Pakistan and India'.In its statement, Facebook said, "We are making progress rooting out this abuse, but as we’ve said before, it’s an ongoing effort. We’re committed to continually improving to stay ahead.""That means building better technology, hiring more people and working closely with law enforcement, security experts and other companies," it said.According to the report, the people behind this network relied on fake accounts, some claiming to be based in India to post content and manage a handful of Indian military fan Pages and Groups."The vast majority of the accounts, Pages and Groups engaged in coordinated...
Read More