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COVID-19 Started in China. To Change the Narrative, China Started to Tweet

   WASHINGTON - Jeff Kao is a ProPublica reporter who [1]analyzed
   thousands of fake and hijacked Twitter accounts to see how China
   spreads propaganda online.

   He told VOA Mandarin he started tracking the tweets in August during
   the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong after noticing "some strange
   accounts that just didn't look real."

   [2]They weren't, something that Twitter disclosed when it released
   information on 926 accounts originating from China August 19.

   "Overall, these accounts were deliberately and specifically attempting
   to sow political discord in Hong Kong, including undermining the
   legitimacy and political positions of the protest movement on the
   ground," Twitter said.

   Many of the accounts had been started by legitimate Twitter users
   outside China only to be hacked and repurposed by Beijing.

References

   1. https://www.propublica.org/article/how-china-built-a-twitter-propaganda-machine-then-let-it-loose-on-coronavirus
   2. https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2019/information_operations_directed_at_Hong_Kong.html

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