Actions by foreign governments to influence public opinion and intervene in internal political debates is not a new phenomenon. However, social networking platforms, such as Twitter, have allowed these information operation campaigns to run at scale, impacting a wider swath of the voting public. Foreign governments can use social media platforms to build a network of accounts and overtime, politicize them. These networks can be leveraged to promote disinformation and sew domestic discord.
Twitter reports having more than 330 million monthly active users, making it one of the largest social networks worldwide. The United States represents the biggest Twitter market with nearly 60 Million users projected by 2022.
For individuals and governments invested in sewing seeds of discord among communities, targeting Twitter users is the perfect strategy. By leveraging a combination of bot and agent run Twitter accounts en masse, foreign entities are able to implement disinformation campaigns. The goal is that the targeted communities they may act (or vote) based upon this false information.
Twitter is in the process of discerning the scope of their responsibility in situations where state-sponsored disinformation campaigns have a remarkable reach. One step they've taken is to suspend accounts they deem to be a part of these campaigns. Additionally, in the name of transparency, Twitter has committed to releasing information about these accounts, including their tweets. Below is a chart capturing the information Twitter has made publicly available on these campaigns.
Number of accounts, by country, suspended by Twitter for participation in disinformation campaigns from 2017-2019.