Feb 21, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Twitter suspends pro-Bloomberg accounts for spam and "platform manipulation"

Orion Rummler

In this image, Michael Bloomberg stands at a podium in a suit. — Bloomberg rallies in Salt Lake City, Utah on Feb. 20. Photo: George Frey/Getty Images

Twitter has reportedly suspended about 70 accounts posting pro-Bloomberg content, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The big picture: The presidential campaign is paying Instagram, Facebook and Twitter users in California to post messages of support on their personal accounts, the Wall Street Journal reported this week. That effort could "later be deployed nationwide," per WSJ.

What's happening: In Twitter posts reviewed by the Times, users "often used identical text, images, links and hashtags" to promote content supporting the former New York City mayor. Twitter told the Times this pattern violated its policies on platform manipulation and spam.

A Twitter spokesperson would not comment on the record about the site suspending accounts.

What they're saying: “We ask that all of our deputy field organizers identify themselves as working on behalf of the Mike Bloomberg 2020 campaign on their social media accounts. Through Outvote content is shared by staffers and volunteers to their network of friends and family and was not intended to mislead anyone," Bloomberg spokesperson Sabrina Singh told Axios in a statement.

Go deeper: Mike Bloomberg embraces the meme

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Twitter suspends pro-Bloomberg accounts for spam and "platform manipulation"

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