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Facebook, Twitter remove Chinese accounts amid Hong Kong protests

Anastasia Santoreneos
Updated
Twitter, Facebook are removing Chinese accounts. Source: Getty
Twitter, Facebook are removing Chinese accounts. Source: Getty

Twitter and Facebook have axed around 1,000 accounts to stop the spread of misinformation amid the Hong Kong protests.

Twitter told the BBC it removed 936 accounts from mainland China which it said were being used to ‘sow political discord in Hong Kong’, and suspended as many as 200,000 other accounts.

After the network axed the accounts, Facebook followed suit at removed seven pages, three groups and five accounts which it said were linked to individuals associated with the Chinese government.

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"They frequently posted about local political news and issues including topics like the ongoing protests in Hong Kong,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy, told the BBC.

"Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities, our investigation found links to individuals associated with the Chinese government."

Are the Hong Kong protests affecting Australia?

The protests themselves aren’t causing Aussies too much grief.

The extradition law which launched the protests into action is no longer on the table, which means Aussie businesses operating in Hong Kong and suspected of criminal acts in China can’t be extradited to the mainland.

But, the geopolitical tensions caused by the protests are stirring up Wall Street, which in turn affects the Australian share market.

All three major US stock averages ended last week’s session higher off the back of hopes for German economic stimulus, but they still logged their third-consecutive weekly losses.

Those losses have been brought on by growing US-China trade animosity and simmering geopolitical tensions, like the Hong Kong protests.

But, the Australian share market has had a good start to the week and Wall Street has continued to rally overnight, meaning the worst could be behind us.

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