If you’re not an avid reader of social media company blogs, let me clear things up for you: Google banned 210 accounts that the People’s Republic of China was using to spread disinformation and propaganda about the protests and protesters in Hong Kong. This week has been rife with revelations that China’s engaged in a massive global disinformation campaign encompassing both Chinese and US social media companies. Twitter and Facebook independently released statements indicating they’d found their own platforms had been used in the propaganda efforts and outlined steps they would take to ensure such coordinated efforts would cease to occur. Here’s a snippet from Facebook’s blog post on the campaign, wherein Nathaniel Gleicher, Head of Cybersecurity Policy says the company removed multiple pages, groups, and accounts: Facebook squarely puts the blame on China’s government, the post then goes on to outline how the company intends to improve its ability to detect these campaigns. Let’s have a gander at Twitter’s post about it from Monday: That’s unequivocally stating that the PRC is responsible. The post continues: As a result of this investigation, Twitter chose to completely ban all state-run advertising campaigns. That’s huge. This all begs the question: why won’t Google point the finger at China? Business Insider’s Alexandra Ma reckons the company’s failure to lay the blame for this disinformation campaign where it belongs is going to summon the wrath of Conservative tech leaders such as Peter Thiel. She writes: While it’s probably not normally a big deal to Google if a notably outspoken board member from a rival company tries to stir up controversy, in this case Thiel’s got the US President’s ear and the timing couldn’t be more ominous. President Donald Trump’s having a normal one on Twitter today after hearing bad news from China (retaliatory tariffs) and the Fed (warning of impending “slowdown”).
If someone happens to whisper in his ear that a company already allegedly being investigated for “treason” is playing coy with China, it could help the embattled leader focus his supporters’ ire and re-galvanize them amid fears of a looming recession. It’s hard to make the case that Google’s staying out of politics by not explicitly stating it found bad actors’ accounts linked to the PRC – omitting the facts is a political play by almost any measure. And that just leaves those opposed to state-backed disinformation campaigns wondering why China can seemingly do no wrong in Google’s eyes. Google did not immediately respond to our requests for comment.
