Twitter mistakenly filters accounts of Chinese activists, following layoffs throughout Asia, reports

[TAG0][TAG1]

• According to the NYT, accounts of over 30 prominent Chinese human rights activists were hidden from search.
• The Times reported that Twitter's misinformation and spam filter had incorrectly restricted activists.
• Since Elon Musk's October takeover, Twitter has seen a reduction in staff by approximately two-thirds.

The New York Times reported that Twitter incorrectly filter the accounts of several Chinese human rights activists following the reduction of staff at its Asia office.

The Times reported that over 30 prominent Chinese activists and dissidents' accounts were not immediately visible when they were searched for. They cited interviews, screenshots, and data from Shadow Bird which analyses whether accounts are subjected to search block.

The newspaper spoke to three activists who did not want to be identified. They said they were suspended without notice and then reinstated after appealing.

Bao Pu is one of these activists. He gained his followers by posting videos of protests against China’s zero-COVID protocol. Insider discovered that a Bao account has about 30,000 followers.

Although Twitter is banned in China it has become a popular platform for activists and dissidents. China announced several policy changes in December as it lifted its controversial zero COVID restrictions. This had sparked protests throughout the country.

President Xi Jinping created a policy to not only contain but also completely eliminate the virus. This resulted in tight lockdowns that saw some people kept indoors for extended periods of time.

Many activists who took to Elon Musk’s platform to protest such lockdowns are now being shadowbanned. This makes it harder for people to find accounts and limits the reach of their posts.

Since Musk's takeover, so-called shadowbans have been a hot topic. After being urged by conservative figures to remove restrictions placed on accounts under the previous management of Twitter, he investigated possible shadowbans.

Shadowbanning was also a topic of heated debate in the "Twitter Files", a series of reports on the platform's past workings that were unveiled by independent journalists who had access to internal documents.

Four people familiar with the system informed the Times that Twitter's automated system was not intended to filter spam and disinformation campaigns from government governments. They also restricted Chinese activists.

Musk has taken drastic cost-cutting steps since taking over Twitter. The staff numbers have been slashed by over two-thirds, from more than 7,000 to just over 2,300.

Kali Hays, Insider's correspondent, reported in January that the Asian headquarters of Insider's Singapore was temporarily closed due to non-payment of rent. Musk eventually made a late payment.

According to The Times, the number of staff members on a team that previously handled mistakes related to Twitter's filtering has dropped from 50 to less than ten after Musk's acquisition. The Times reports that Twitter's Asia-Pacific region top staffer, who was responsible for handling accounts of Chinese activists, was fired in January.

Insider reported that offices in Hong Kong, the Philippines, and South Korea are closing.

Twitter didn't immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

—————————————————————————————————————————————
By: psyme@insider.com (Pete Syme)
Title: Twitter mistakenly filtered the accounts of Chinese activists following layoffs in Asia, report says
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/twitter-mistakenly-filtered-accounts-of-chinese-activists-nyt-2023-2
Published Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2023 15:45:29 +0000

Related posts:

Twitter’s first large-scale outage under his direction: Elon Musk says that Twitter is working for the company Twitter is looking at whether to auction off inactive Twitter handle to raise more money, a report states Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters is said to be filled with makeshift beds as well as ‘the most terrible coffee sellers on Earth’ Twitter suffers a’massive disruption’ under Elon Musso, leaving users unable send messages or tweets.