TWITTER, FACEBOOK FREEZE ACCOUNTS AS FAKE NEWS SWIRLS IN U.S.

Twitter and Facebook suspended several recently created right-leaning news accounts posting information about voting in the hotly contested US election for violating their policies, Joseph Menn and Katie Paul reported for Reuters.

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. The account frequently warned of election-related unrest and highlighted issues with voting safety and reliability. It pointed to fraud claims about Democrats and called attention to Republican President Donald Trump’s rallies and speeches. 

Other accounts suspended by Twitter included FJNewsReporter, Crisis_Intel and Faytuks. A Facebook page also named SVNewsAlerts, had more than 20,000 followers. Facebook declined to comment further.