Twitter took down several accounts accused of spreading conspiracy theories as the Elon Musk-owned platform gears up to curb misinformation in a run-up to the mid-term elections.
What Happened: Twitter banned the popular "Ultra MAGA BELLA Hot Babe" account with thousands of followers after it was found to be operated by someone in China, shows a report released by research coalition Election Integrity Partnership.
The account once called former U.S. President Barack Obama a "lizard person who is a member of the Illuminati," Insider reported.
The account was removed as Twitter widened its effort to take down networks of foreign ingenuine accounts trying to influence the U.S. midterm elections. Twitter identified “six distinct inauthentic networks with technical links to Iran and China,” according to the report.
It noted that the accounts Twitter took down together posted over 250,000 tweets and were publishing mostly right-wing content and shared messages in favor of former U.S. President Donald Trump–allied candidates for the 2022 midterms.
The “ULTRA MAGA BELLA Hot Babe,” with the handle “SimplyBellaH,” shared multiple conspiracy theories with false claims about transgender children. The account had garnered over 180,000 retweets and 400,000 likes in total before it was removed.
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