Twitter suspends 486 more accounts for ‘coordinated manipulation’

Some of the accounts were sharing divisive social commentaries.

Marrian Zhou Staff Reporter

Marrian Zhou is a Beijing-born Californian living in New York City. She joined CNET as a staff reporter upon graduation from Columbia Journalism School. When Marrian is not reporting, she is probably binge watching, playing saxophone or eating hot pot.

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Marrian Zhou

Aug. 28, 2018 9:26 a.m. PT

The latest round brings the total of suspended Twitter accounts in a week to 770.

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Twitter is still going after fake accounts that have engaged in "coordinated manipulation."

The social media platform on Tuesday said it suspended 486 more accounts that violated its policies, bringing the total of suspended accounts to 770.

Since our initial suspensions last Tuesday, we have continued our investigation, further building our understanding of these networks. In addition, we suspended an additional 486 accounts for violating the policies outlined last week. This brings the total suspended to 770.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) August 27, 2018

This comes after Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential elections, which surfaced numerous fake accounts used to stir conflict and spread misinformation across social media. Although tech giants like Facebook and Twitter have changed their tactics from reactive to proactive in terms of suspending accounts, they still have a long way to go, as other foreign actors may follow in Russia's footsteps.

Twitter said fewer than 100 of the 770 suspended accounts claimed to be in the United States. After the initial suspension a week ago, the company said many of the accounts appeared to originate from Iran.

Of those 100 accounts, Twitter said many were sharing "divisive social commentary," and showed examples that were critical of President Donald Trump. On average, these accounts tweeted 867 times, had 1,268 followers and were less than a year old, Twitter said.

Fewer than 100 of the 770 suspended accounts claimed to be located in the U.S. and many of these were sharing divisive social commentary. On average, these 100 Tweeted 867 times, were followed by 1, 268 accounts, and were less than a year old. Examples below. pic.twitter.com/LQhbvFjxSo
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) August 27, 2018

The social media giant also said it'll continue to work with law enforcement and fellow social media companies to defend its platform from malicious interference and misinformation.

Twitter declined to comment beyond the tweets.