The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Twitter grapples with Chinese spam obscuring news of protests

For hours, links to adult content overwhelmed other posts from cities where dramatic rallies escalated

By
November 27, 2022 at 7:45 p.m. EST
Onlookers stand by the road during a protest in Beijing on Monday. (Bloomberg News)
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SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter’s radically reduced anti-propaganda team grappled on Sunday with a flood of nuisance content in China that researchers said was aimed at reducing the flow of news about stunning widespread protests against coronavirus restrictions.

Numerous Chinese-language accounts, some dormant for months or years, came to life early Sunday and started spamming the service with links to escort services and other adult offerings alongside city names.