Twitter Tackles Fake Accounts With Surge Of Suspensions

Twitter on Friday confirmed suspending more than 70 million accounts in May and June, or an average of more than 1 million each day, amid efforts to curb suspicious and malicious activity, The Washington Post reported.

An analysis conducted by The Post and confirmed by Twitter found that the social network has more than doubled the rate at which it suspends accounts since October 2017, the newspaper reported.

Twitter told congressional investigators that same month that Russian operatives had exploited its platform during the 2016 U.S. presidential race, and subsequent efforts to limit abuse have contributed to the surge in suspensions, the report said.

The tens of millions of accounts suspended since October includes users believed to be automated, malicious “bots,” as well as suspected, abusive social media trolls, according to the report.

“One of the biggest shifts is in how we think about balancing free expression versus the potential for free expression to chill someone else’s speech,” said Del Harvey, Twitter’s vice president for trust and safety. “Free expression doesn’t really mean much if people don’t feel safe,” she told the newspaper.

One of Twitter’s most popular users, meanwhile, cited the Twitter purge in a tweet Saturday suggesting both The Post and The New York Times should be suspended as well.