YouTube shuts 210 accounts over disinformation on Hong Kong protest

DHARAMSALA, 23 Aug: As many as 210 channels on YouTube were shut down by Google for “coordinated” attempt to post material about the ongoing protests in Hong Kong.

“Earlier this week, as part of our ongoing efforts to combat coordinated influence operations, we disabled 210 channels on YouTube when we discovered channels in this network behaved in a coordinated manner while uploading videos related to the ongoing protests in Hong Kong,” Shane Huntley, a member of Google’s security team has said in a blog post.

The development came days after Facebook and Twitter shut down hundreds of accounts with ties to China.

Though Google stopped short of directly identifying the Chinese government behind those disabled accounts, it said that the “discovery was consistent with recent observations and actions related to China announced by Facebook and Twitter.”

Twitter and Facebook have announced that they had uncovered a state-backed misinformation campaign using social media platforms against pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and announced the shut down of hundreds of fake accounts being used by China to sow political discord at the ongoing mass protest in Hong Kong earlier this week.

The firm’s security wing has further described its action as part of their continuing efforts to protect the integrity of our platforms and the security and privacy of our users.

Twitter and Facebook, both banned in China along with telegram among others were widely used by the protesters in Hong Kong to remain anonymous to avoid being identified and arrested by police authorities.

An estimated 1.7 million protesters staged a peaceful rally in torrential rain as the protest entered 11^thweek on Sunday.