"Twitter may have been used even more extensively than Facebook in the Russian influence campaign last year," the Times reports. Russia-linked Twitter accounts posed as Americans and false stories were spread using large-scale automated messaging or “bot” accounts. Twitter has not said much publicly about this activity, but is due to brief staff of the Senate and House intelligence committees today.
From the New York Times:
Twitter has struggled for years to rein in the fake accounts overrunning its platform. Unlike Facebook, the service does not require its users to provide their real name (or at least a facsimile of one) and allows automated accounts — arguing that they are a useful tool for tasks such as customer service. Beyond those restrictions, there is also an online black market for services that can allow for the creation of large numbers of Twitter bots, which can be controlled by a single person while still being difficult to distinguish from real accounts.
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