Twitter Inc and Facebook Inc on Tuesday suspended several recently created right-leaning news accounts for spreading misinformation regarding the U.S. election, as well as for violating their policies.
Twitter said the accounts had been suspended for violating its policy against “coordination,” posting identical content while appearing independent or engaging in other covertly automated behavior. Facebook suspended them for inauthentic behavior. One of those suspended, SVNewsAlerts, had more 78,000 Twitter followers, after adding more than 10,000 in the past week. Other accounts suspended by Twitter included FJNewsReporter, Crisis_Intel and Faytuks.
A Facebook page also named SVNewsAlerts, which was suspended on Tuesday afternoon, had more than 20,000 followers. Facebook declined to comment further.
False or exaggerated reports about voting fraud and delays at the polls circulated on social media throughout the day, in some cases helped along by Republican accounts and online publications.
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