China cries foul over Facebook, Twitter block of fake accounts
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[August 20, 2019] BEIJING
(Reuters) - China said on Tuesday it had a right to put out its own
views after Twitter and Facebook said they had dismantled a state-backed
social media campaign originating in mainland China that sought to
undermine protests in Hong Kong.
Twitter Inc said on Monday it suspended 936 accounts and the operations
appeared to be a coordinated state-backed effort originating in China.
Facebook Inc said it had removed accounts and pages from a small network
after a tip from Twitter. Facebook said its investigation found links to
individuals associated with the Chinese government.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang declined direct comment on the
Twitter and Facebook actions, but defended the right of Chinese people
and media to make their voices heard over the Hong Kong protests.
Overseas Chinese and students "of course have the right to express their
point of view", he told a daily news briefing.
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"What is happening in Hong Kong, and what the truth is, people will
naturally have their own judgment. Why is it that China's official
media's presentation is surely negative or wrong?" he added.
Twitter and Facebook have come under fire from users over showing ads
from state-controlled media that criticized the Hong Kong protesters.
Twitter said Monday it would no longer accept advertising from
state-controlled news media, and told Reuters the change was not related
to the suspended accounts.
Twitter and Facebook are blocked by the Chinese government from being
used in the mainland, but are freely accessible in Hong Kong, where
protests since June have plunged the Chinese-ruled territory into its
most serious crisis in decades.
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Logo of the Twitter and Facebook are seen through magnifier on
display in this illustration taken in Sarajevo, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, December 16, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
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Chinese media use foreign social media to communicate with people around the
world to introduce them to Chinese policies and "tell China's story", Geng said.
"I don't know why certain companies or peoples' reaction is so strong," he
added.
The Hong Kong protests present one of the biggest challenges for China's
President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.
They began in opposition to a now-suspended bill that would allow suspects to be
sent to the mainland for trial in Communist Party-controlled courts, but have
since swelled into wider calls for democracy.
Social media companies globally are under pressure to stem illicit political
influence campaigns online, especially ahead of the U.S. presidential election
in November 2020.
A 22-month U.S. investigation concluded Russia interfered in a "sweeping and
systematic fashion" in the 2016 U.S. election to help Donald Trump win the
presidency.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Gao Liangping; editing by Darren Schuettler)
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