Chinese government posts retweeted by suspended accounts

An army of apparently fake accounts has been amplifying Chinese state content on Twitter, creating a fiction of popularity at a scale that could distort the way the content is distributed and help it reach a wider audience. Over 26,000 accounts retweeted Chinese diplomats or state media nearly 200,000 times before getting suspended for breaking platform rules, which prohibit manipulation.

Retweets collected Jun. 9, 2020-Jan.31,2021. Suspension data collected Mar. 1, 2021
Source: Oxford Internet Institute/Associated Press