Reported By:
| Edited By: DNA |Source: DNA |Updated: Aug 22, 2019, 07:05 AM IST
In a world where everything is going digital, can politics be unaffected? Obviously not. A full-scale political war has broken out in the digital arena. Two of the world’s preeminent superpowers, US and China, are clashing in the virtual world and the result promises to be electrifying.
US-based Social media behemoths Facebook and Twitter have accused China of using fake accounts to undermine popular protests in Hong Kong. They have taken action against China for using hundreds of fake accounts to sow political discord during the Hong Kong protests, marking the first time that the social media giants had identified Beijing directly for spearheading such an operation.
Twitter said it was suspending nearly a thousand Chinese accounts and banning advertising from state-owned media companies, citing a “significant state-backed information operation” related to these protests. Facebook said it was removing five Facebook accounts, seven pages and three groups after being tipped off to the use of “a number of deceptive tactics, including the use of fake accounts.”
The new takedowns by the two reflect the extent to which disinformation has become a global scourge, surpassing the once-secret efforts of Russian agents to stoke social unrest in the United States during the 2016 presidential election.
Researchers have pointed to similar campaigns linked to Saudi Arabia, Israel, China, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela, where efforts have been made to shape discussions on social media beyond their borders.
According to an e-market estimate, about 448,000 people in Hong Kong use Twitter, while nearly 4.7 million people in the island log in to Facebook at least once a month. Two posts cited by Twitter, reveal Chinese malevolence. One described the protesters as cockroaches and another likened them to Islamic extremists.
China has — as can be expected — cried foul, but her propensity to steal patents and twist facts is getting exposed with time. Both platforms are blocked in mainland China.
