YouTube disables 210 channels involved in disinformation campaign against Hong Kong protesters

Twitter and Facebook weren't the only platforms hit with alleged disinformation campaigns targeting the protesters in Hong Kong.

Google has announced that it removed 210 YouTube channels that "behaved in a coordinated manner while uploading videos related to the ongoing protests in Hong Kong," with this crackdown being a part of the platform's effort to "combat coordinated influence operations."

The move comes after Twitter earlier this week announced it was suspending almost 1,000 accounts after discovering a "state-backed" campaign to "sow political discord" in Hong Kong and undermine the pro-Democracy protests there, with the platform saying the accounts originated in the People's Republic of China. Facebook that same day made a similar announcement, saying it was removing a smaller number of accounts engaging in "coordinated inauthentic behavior" that had links to the Chinese government. Some of the accounts suspended by both Twitter and Facebook were posing as news sources, CBS News reports.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Google says the findings that led to the removal of the more than 200 YouTube channels were "consistent with recent observations and actions related to China announced by Facebook and Twitter." The users of these accounts, Google also said, were utilizing VPNs in an attempt to hide their location.

Lawmakers in recent days have raised serious concerns about these apparently China-backed disinformation campaigns on social media, with The Hill reporting that it's "the first time China has launched a significant social media-based disinformation campaign geared toward Western audiences." Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) of the House Intelligence Committee told The Hill that this could be "a trial run for our elections in 2020," warning, "if they succeed in doing it to the people of Hong Kong, what will stop them from trying to do it to us?”