<story><title>Twitter is blocked in China, but its state news agency is buying promoted tweets</title><url>https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/19/twitter-is-blocked-in-china-but-its-state-news-agency-is-buying-promoted-tweets-to-portray-hong-kong-protestors-as-violent/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>rococode</author><text>Twitter just posted this statement: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blog.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;topics&amp;#x2F;company&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;information_operations_directed_at_Hong_Kong.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blog.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;topics&amp;#x2F;company&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;informati...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;And a new policy banning all state-controlled media from advertising: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blog.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;topics&amp;#x2F;company&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;advertising_policies_on_state_media.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blog.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;topics&amp;#x2F;company&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;advertisi...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think this is an interesting example of recent discussions about the disproportionate influence of social media companies on information. Obviously, it doesn&amp;#x27;t seem right for a government to manipulate public conversation. But it&amp;#x27;s also worrisome that a single company has the power to shut down an entire government trying to spread its ideas. In this instance it&amp;#x27;s well justified, but it feels a little scary that the flow of information is policed by a couple private individuals with very little oversight. I don&amp;#x27;t have any particular opinions here on what might need to change, if anything - just thinking out loud.</text></comment>
<story><title>Twitter is blocked in China, but its state news agency is buying promoted tweets</title><url>https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/19/twitter-is-blocked-in-china-but-its-state-news-agency-is-buying-promoted-tweets-to-portray-hong-kong-protestors-as-violent/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>29_29</author><text>I was recently in Beijing and noticed when posting on Instagram many bot accounts posting &amp;quot;Shame on Hong Kong&amp;quot; in Chinese.&lt;p&gt;This is a Facebook problem too.</text></comment>