Twitter drops the transparency ball on Russian bot abuse
Twitter is finally following Facebook's lead and coming clean about how Russian trolls abused their platform in spreading misinformation ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. But even in transparency, Twitter is still clouding the issue by literally deleting the evidence.
SEE ALSO:Americans say social media is destroying the news — but nobody knows what to do about itIn late January, the company published a blog post detailing some of its findings on accounts run by the Russian-linked Internet Research Agency (IRA) that was responsible for many (if not most) of the malicious bot behavior across the platform. Other efforts included reaching out to Twitter users who interacted with these accounts and sharing a few examples of such content.
But.
BUT.
According to a report from NBC News, Twitter has been treating these accounts just like they treat your typical, run-of-the-mill spam accounts: by suspending them and, thus, deleting their tweets from the public view.
And that's a big problem.
Twitter's cloudy judgment
While it's understandable in the case of the average spam bot, these Russian accounts are different and far more important to understanding how this political interference happened, especially because it's expected to happen again, likely in the lead-up to the November midterms.
Given that so many users interacted with these accounts (Twitter says they sent notices to 1.4 million users), it's also important for users to understand what these tweets look like and how they can discern real from fake.
That the fake @TEN_GOP account made headlines for being trolled by a user who baited Trump followers with a photo prank underscores how successful these bots can be. Beyond the Twitter-inception of a propaganda troll being trolled by a fake photo claim, that so many outlets promoted this account and many more like it in various stories (something even we were guilty of) shows how successful that 2016 operation was.
One of the tweets from the fake @TEN_GOP accountCredit: TwitterAnd we're slowly starting to see how far back these Russian efforts go, like the report of a Russian troll-led hoax in 2015 that prompted fears of the KKK at the University of Missouri following several incidents of racial tension at the school. This goes deeper than we expected and we're still finding out new tidbits all the time.
Deleted tweet database shows clarity
To that end, NBC News has done us a service -- one that Twitter themselves should have done -- by releasing a database of the accused Russian accounts (.csv file) and thousands of their tweets (.csv file) that have otherwise been erased from the web.
It's a valuable service that will give us the ability to see what was done before and, hopefully, help us learn what pitfalls to avoid in the future. It's just a damn shame, though not a surprise, that it's not Twitter that's sharing this resource.
Anyone that's ever had to email Twitter about some sort of controversy related to specific accounts or tweets is familiar with the standard "we do not comment on specific accounts" reply. Which is why the company has faced so much backlash about how they've handled abusive behavior, even if they've finally started to (slowly) course correct.
Tweet may have been deleted
Context is hugely important not just to understand the mistakes of the past, but to keep ourselves from making the same mistakes in the future. We can joke about how "time is a flat circle" all we want, but when there's a real chance to prevent the same errors from happening again, we have to take advantage.
And Twitter damn well has an obligation to help us face those errors and prepare for what's next.
Featured Video For You
The hidden cost of a conveniently connected world
(责任编辑:资讯)
- Norris stuns Verstappen at Dutch GP
- 天全县始阳镇科学规划积极组织过渡安置工作
- 说出你的建议 倾听你的忧虑
- 我市PPI环比四连涨
- Weather update for second Pak vs Ban second Test match day one
- 暧昧不雅图惹纠纷 法官温情巧调处
- 推动“四城联创” 要有责任心 不准找借口
- 荥经县召开县委中心组第一次学习会
- Pixel 9 Pro XL hands
- 暧昧不雅图惹纠纷 法官温情巧调处
- 快讯:雅安预备役官兵救出被困人员60余人
- 市区13个农贸市场 卫生秩序有改观
- Best Home Depot Labor Day sale deals
- 荥经县胡长保小学学生参加“文明劝导”活动