Twitter searches for China protests bombarded by spam and porn

According to some disinformation researchers, Twitter searches for the widespread Covid-19-related protests in China are returning a deluge of spam, pornography, and random text that at first glance appears to be an intentional effort by the Chinese government or its allies to drown out images of the demonstrations.

Chinese search results for popular protest locations like Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Guangzhou started coming up late last week and continued through Monday. These results included solicitations, pictures of scantily clad women in suggestive poses, and seemingly random word and sentence fragments. The majority of the tweets CNN investigated on Monday were posted by accounts that were founded months earlier, follow very few other accounts, and have no followers of their own.

Following a catastrophic fire in China’s Xinjiang province, where at least 10 people died despite Covid-19 lockdown restrictions that apparently made it difficult for first responders to access the scene, there was an increase in suspected fraudulent behavior. The fire and long-simmering discontent with the nation’s zero-Covid regulations contributed to the unusual protests in China.

“It is happening not just around Xinjiang but around any sensitive Chinese issue at the moment,” said Charlie Smith, the pseudonymous co-founder of GreatFire.org, a digital activism group based in China. “Search any city that has seen a rise in Covid cases, or had on-the-street protests on the weekend, and you will see the same thing.”

First major disinformation tests for Twitter since Elon Musk took over

One of the biggest misinformation tests for Twitter since Elon Musk bought the social media network is the apparent suppression campaign by suspected bot accounts. Although the billionaire has personally committed to fighting the war against bots and spammers, he has also reduced Twitter’s personnel by more than half, raising questions about the company’s capacity to deal with bad actors both domestically and internationally.

Concerned about Twitter’s purported susceptibility to foreign exploitation, US senators have raised their concern. Moreover, there are questions about Musk’s readiness to confront the Chinese government due to his connections to China through one of his other businesses, electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. Twitter, which has significantly reduced the size of its PR team, didn’t respond to a request for comment right away.

China’s involvement is still unclear 

Furthermore, it is unknown whether China has access to Twitter’s internal systems and services. Twitter’s former chief of security informed the US government earlier this year that the firm is extremely vulnerable to foreign exploitation in a whistleblower declaration. According to the whistleblower’s testimony, Twitter was alerted by the FBI this year that at least one agent for the Chinese government was employed there.

US policymakers are disturbed by the claim. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the top Republican, wrote to Musk last week to request that he assess Twitter’s security for insider threats and inform congressional staff of the situation.