Google Disables YouTube Channels It Linked to Hong Kong Influence Operation

By Robert McMillan 

Google pulled 210 YouTube channels from its platform, saying that they appeared to be part of a coordinated disinformation campaign in response to pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. made similar moves earlier this week, citing evidence that the Chinese government was behind efforts to discredit the protesters.

"This discovery was consistent with recent observations and actions related to China announced by Facebook and Twitter," Google wrote in a blog post Thursday. It didn't specifically blame Beijing for the campaign.

More than 5% of the tweets posted this year by the accounts Twitter removed included links to YouTube, said Kate Starbird, a professor at the University of Washington, who studies online disinformation

Hong Kong has been racked by a series of massive protests this summer, in response to proposed legislation to allow the extradition of Hong Kong residents to stand trial in mainland China. The legislation were tabled, but demonstrations have continued in the semi-autonomous territory.

Chinese officials have said that the Facebook and Twitter posts were made by Chinese citizens living overseas and expressing their views on the protest.

The Chinese activity has invited comparisons to Russia's Internet Research Agency, accused by the federal prosecutors of engaging in a state-sponsored online influence campaign during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. But the accounts removed by Twitter and Facebook were much less sophisticated than those created by the Russian group, said Alex Stamos, formerly Facebook's chief security officer.

The contrast has made the Chinese efforts less believable, according to Mr. Stamos, who now researchers online disinformation at Stanford University.

"The [Internet Research Agency] spent years building and backstopping identities that had specific points of view, through which they could launder their messages," he said. "In this case, it is almost completely obvious when one of these trolls is pushing the Chinese communist party line."

Write to Robert McMillan at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 22, 2019 19:05 ET (23:05 GMT)

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