Twitter, Facebook Say China Used Fake Accounts to Target Hong Kong Protests
- China-backed effort tried to undermine legitimacy of protests
- Twitter says it will no longer accept ads from state-run media
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Twitter Inc. found and deleted hundreds of accounts it said China used to undermine the Hong Kong protest movement and calls for political change.
The company said it took down 936 accounts that originated within China and attempted to manipulate perspectives on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. Facebook Inc., acting on a tip from Twitter, said it also found a similar Chinese government-backed operation on its social network, with five fake accounts, seven pages and three groups.