Twitter removes 71 Ghanaian, Nigerian accounts associated with Russian trolls

Twitter has removed some 71 accounts associated with Russia that were operating out of Ghana and Nigeria but presenting themselves as US-based.

The social network said in a Twitter Safety tweet that the accounts were mostly tweeting in English and engaging in conversations about social issues, such as race and civil rights.

These 71 removed accounts, operating out of Ghana and Nigeria and which we can reliably associate with Russia, attempted to sow discord by engaging in conversations about social issues, like race and civil rights.

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— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) March 12, 2020

“As we’ve seen since 2016, Russia is not alone in its quest to manipulate conversations through social media. In fact, during the 2018 U.S. midterms, we saw more domestic attempts to spread disinformation than foreign," Twitter said in a tweet.

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"These 71 removed accounts, operating out of Ghana and Nigeria and which we can reliably associate with Russia, attempted to sow discord by engaging in conversations about social issues, like race and civil rights".

This follows a similar cull by social network Facebook on Thursday which removed 49 Facebook accounts, 69 Pages and 85 Instagram accounts for engaging in foreign interference from Ghana and Nigeria and on behalf of individuals in Russia.