YouTube says it found and disabled 210 channels that were spreading disinformation about the anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
YouTube said its takedown was “consistent” with the actions by Twitter and Facebook, though YouTube, which is owned by Google, did not mention the Chinese government in its blog post. The company declined to comment beyond the post.
YouTube’s post said that the people behind the accounts used virtual private network software, or VPNs, and other methods to disguise their origin. They also used “other activity commonly associated with coordinated influence operations,” the company said. “These actions are part of our continuing efforts to protect the integrity of our platforms and the security and privacy of our users,” Shane Huntley of Google’s threat analysis group said in the post.
Many of the accounts removed earlier by Twitter pushed conspiracy theories about the Hong Kong protest groups, according to examples shared by Twitter. One Twitter post in English asked, “Are these people who smashed the Legco crazy or taking benefits from the bad guys?” Other accounts posed as Hong Kong news outlets.
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