Before the Hong Kong protests, banned Twitter accounts ‘targeted Chinese government critics’

Hundreds of now-banned Twitter accounts linked to a “state-backed” effort to malign protests in Hong Kong had earlier been used to target critics of the Chinese government, according to a study of the accounts.

In a report released on Tuesday, the International Cyber Policy Centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said the accounts were part of a coordinated information campaign operating for more than two years to target figures like fugitive billionaire Guo Wengui and jailed publisher Gui Minhai.

“Those early efforts are an attempt to shape sentiment and the international narrative around these prominent critics of the Chinese government and to shape them in such a way as to influence the Chinese diaspora’s perception of these individuals,” said Jake Wallis, senior analyst with the centre and one of the report’s principal authors.

Twitter announced last month that it had suspended 936 accounts for “attempting to sow political discord in Hong Kong” through banned tactics like spamming and coordinated posting, saying they were part of a “significant state-backed information operation” originating from China.

After the accounts were suspended, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said he was unclear on the details, but rejected claims of social media manipulation over the protests.

“As for the situation in Hong Kong, the opinion of 1.4 billion Chinese and overseas students are very clear, and they can all express their views,” Geng said.

The centre said its researchers used information supplied by Twitter to examine the nature and content of the accounts but did not investigate Twitter’s claim that the accounts were linked to the Chinese government.