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Twitter shuts down fake Putin account with over 1M followers

The social network says Russian officials got in touch about the sham.

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Erin Carson Former Senior Writer
Erin Carson covered internet culture, online dating and the weird ways tech and science are changing your life.
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After six years in operation, a fake Twitter account for Russian President Vladimir Putin, with more than a million followers, got suspended by the social network. 

Twitter tweeted Wednesday that it received information from Russian officials that the account was spurious, and that it suspended the sham account for violating the company's policy against impersonation.

Twitter declined to comment further.

The account has been active since 2012. The BBC noted that even it had featured the account in news stories, believing it was real. The account didn't have a blue "verified" badge.