Twitter to notify users exposed to Russian propaganda
during U.S. elections
Send a link to a friend
 [January 20, 2018]
(Reuters) - Twitter Inc
<TWTR.N>, which is reviewing Russian interference during the 2016 U.S.
elections, said on Friday it would notify some of its users whether they
were exposed to content generated by a suspected Russian propaganda
service.
The company said it would email 677,775 people in the United States who
followed, retweeted or liked content from accounts associated with the
Internet Research Agency (IRA) during the election.
The IRA is a Russian organization that according to lawmakers and
researchers, employs hundreds of people to push pro-Kremlin content
under phony social media accounts.
Twitter added that because it has already suspended these accounts, the
relevant content is no longer publicly available on its platform.
Twitter executives on Wednesday told U.S. lawmakers that it may notify
the users about the Russian propaganda.
The company in September said it had suspended about 200 Russian-linked
accounts, and followed it by suspending adverts from media outlets
Russia Today and Sputnik in October.
[to top of second column] |
People holding mobile phones are silhouetted against a backdrop
projected with the Twitter logo in this illustration picture taken
September 27, 2013. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo
The top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives intelligence committee on
Friday praised Twitter's move and urged technology companies to keep looking
into abuse of their platforms by Russia during the 2016 elections.
"The Committee’s open hearing last November with Twitter, Facebook and Google
revealed the extent to which the Russians exploited vulnerabilities inherent in
the openness of our society and social media platforms, and it is vital these
companies are transparent with users who were likely exposed to Kremlin
propaganda and disinformation," Representative Adam Schiff said in a statement.
Senator Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence panel,
echoed this view, tweeting: "I've been tough with Twitter on this, but I'm
encouraged to see the company beginning to take responsibility and notify its
users of Russia's influence on its platform."
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru and Eric Walsh in Washington;
Editing by Maju Samuel and Lisa Shumaker)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
