The Fake Twitter image and China.
Zhao Lijian, China’s foreign ministry spokesman, tweeted a digitally created image that purported to show an Australian soldier holding a bloodied knife to the throat of an Afghan child on Monday 30 November 2020.
The cybersecurity firm, Cyabra, said it had found 57.5% of accounts that engaged with Zhao’s tweet were fake, and “evidence of a largely orchestrated disinformation campaign” to amplify its message.
Cyabra said it analysed 1,344 profiles and found a large number were created in November and used once, to retweet Zhao’s tweet.
China called Cyabra’s statement “unwarranted.”
“This is a classic example of spreading false information. Twitter has its own rules managing tweets,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in response to questions.
Twitter has previously stated that they have removed 23,750 accounts spreading geopolitical narratives favourable to the Chinese Communist party, and another 150,000 accounts designed to amplify these messages.
Yet, Twitter declined Australia’s request to remove the fake image tweet, under their policy of protected speech.
I wonder how China can post fake images, and Twitter refuses a request to remove them, but when Trump posts fake information, they remove them quickly.