Meta, Twitter remove social media accounts linked to pro-western themes

Two social media giants are going after accounts for pushing pro-western themes. Meta and Twitter removed accounts for violating Terms of Service around manipulation and inauthentic behavior. The accounts reportedly pushed their messaging toward Middle Eastern and Central Asian audiences.

While these campaigns are not new, pro-west accounts are rarely the ones behind them. Typically, the campaigns aim at undermining democracy and boosting authoritarian governments. Most campaigns have been linked to Russia, China and Iran.

“This activity represents the most extensive case of a covert influence operation advancing pro-Western narratives that has been publicly documented to date,” social media analyst Jack Stubbs told The Wall Street Journal.

A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment on the report, noting that these types of research reports are independent from the company. The spokesperson said the platform’s goal in sharing data with global research partners is “to enable independent, external analysis to inform the public.”

The posts on Meta and Twitter platforms highlighted China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim population and criticized Russia for the war in Ukraine and its links to the Taliban. The posts and tweets received limited engagement. Only 19 percent of the accounts had more than 1,000 followers.