Qatar welcome Twitter crackdown on millions of spam bots used to attack country online

If you looked at online activity on Twitter in recent weeks, you could see thousands upon thousands of fake profiles spewing venom against Qatar.

Automated bot accounts had flooded social media last month, with many of them promoting messages which supported Saudi Arabia and cast doubt on allegations that the kingdom was involved in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Twitter has since said that it has removed large numbers of accounts for breaching its terms of use in recent weeks, many of them originating from the Gulf region, reported Qatar Tribune.

Twitter’s intensive drive to remove millions of automated spam bots from its website was wholeheartedly welcomed by Qatar, reported Reuters.

Twitter had recently started making solid moves to strengthen privacy considerations and the overall safety of their users.

“The Government of the State of Qatar welcomes recent announcements by Twitter to strengthen privacy considerations and the overall safety of their users,” said Qatar’s Government Communication Office in a statement on its website.

“We also welcome steps Twitter is already taking to end the malicious misuse of its service, including taking down automated spam bots. Qatar recognises that many of Twitter’s efforts (to remove the more than 8-10 million fake accounts a week) have helped remove some of the weaponised propaganda and hate speech spread against our nation during the current blockade,” it said, according to The Peninsula.

“Twitter plays a vital role in enabling individual freedoms. We hope all of Qatar’s residents and citizens abide by Twitters’ Terms of Service to protect such freedoms. Twitter is a public channel, and users should be treated with dignity and respect at all times,” the statement concluded.