Twitter on Friday announced the removal of 5,929 accounts that researchers say has ties to a man accused of recruiting Twitter employees to gather information on Saudi dissidents. In a blog post, Twitter’s Site Integrity team revealed that the accounts removed this week operated as part of a “significant state-backed information operation” originating within the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The accounts represent the “core” of a larger network of 88,000 accounts, and primarily were dedicated to liking, retweeting and replying to tweets that were favorable to the Saudi government on issues such as officials’ appearances in Western media and Iranian sanctions. Twitter attributed the activity to Smaat, a Saudi marketing firm that managed the accounts on behalf of its clients. “We have permanently suspended Smaat’s access to our service as a result, as well as the Twitter accounts of Smaat’s senior executives,” the company said in the blog post. “Smaat […]
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