*ISLAMABAD – Twitter said Friday it shut down thousands of accountsworldwide for spreading misinformation, including some artificiallyamplifying pro-Saudi messaging as part of a regional propaganda war.*
The move affected pro-Saudi accounts coming from Egypt and other countriesdirected at Qatar and Yemen, Twitter said.
Additional fake accounts were suspended in Spain and Ecuador, Twitter’ssafety team said.
The move is the latest in a series of actions by social media giants suchas Facebook and Twitter cracking down on manipulation, often bystate-controlled entities disguising their identities.
*Royal Saudi account canceled *
Twitter removed 273 accounts working in concert in “a multi-facetedinformation operation” to target Saudi rivals including Qatar, as well asamplify pro-Saudi government messaging.
Saudi Arabia has enforced an economic boycott of Qatar since June 2017.
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Twitter also notably shut down the account of Saudi royal court adviserSaud al-Qahtani.
The close confidante of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who ran Riyadh’s mediacenter and managed an electronic army unabashedly defending its image, wasimplicated in the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inOctober 2018 but was never formally charged.
Six accounts linked to Saudi Arabia’s state-run media were also flagged byTwitter for being “engaged in coordinated efforts to amplify messaging thatwas beneficial to the Saudi government,” Twitter said.
Twitter noted the accounts had posed as “independent journalistic outletswhile tweeting narratives favorable to the Saudi government”. -APP/AFP
