China is reportedly spamming Twitter with posts about pornography and escorts in an apparent attempt to block news about widespread nationwide protests against COVID lockdowns.
Users searching for major Chinese cities that have seen mass protests like Beijing and Shanghai “will mostly see escort/porn/gambling ads, drowning out legitimate search results,” Air-Moving Devices tweeted, along with a series of graphics. .
“We’re still working on our own analysis, but here’s some good early data that this is an intentional attack to spew informational garbage and reduce external visibility of the protests in China (Twitter is blocked for most citizens of the People’s Republic of China)”, Alex Stamos. , director of the Stanford Internet Observatory, retweeted.
CHINESE POLICE TURN VIOLENT AS PROTESTS OVER COVID-19 LOCKDOWN SWEPT ACROSS THE COUNTRY
Mengyu Dong of Stanford University also shared images of Chinese escort ads, possibly made in an effort to make it more difficult to access information about the mass demonstrations.
“Some of these acts have been dormant for years, only to become active… after protests broke out in China,” he wrote.
He noted that one account joined Twitter in 2015, but that all of its more than 2,000 tweets came in the last 15 hours. Another joined in March and had only sent four tweets by November 26. The next day, she had over 3,000 posts.
In this photo taken on Sunday, police officers restrain and arrest a protester during a protest on a street in Shanghai, China. Authorities eased anti-virus rules in scattered areas but affirmed China’s tough “covid zero” strategy on Monday after crowds demanded the resignation of President Xi Jinping during protests against controls that confine millions of people to their homes. . (AP Photo)
Former US diplomat David Cowhig also questioned the timing of the sexually explicit accounts.
“Chinese Web Censors Attack This Twitter Etiquette By Posting Lots Of Sexy Photos To Distract People From Wuhan Protests?” he wrote. “Or just to block the channel?
Fox News has reached out to Twitter.
China has erupted into chaos in recent days due to leader Xi Jinping’s tightening of COVID lockdowns.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Protests began over the weekend in China over the country’s “zero-COVID” policy. Ten people burned alive in an apartment in Urumqi, which was allegedly the result of Beijing’s hardline COVID restrictions.
Chinese citizens have taken to the streets to express their anger and outrage over the measures.
