Twitter Deleted Data Possibly Crucial to Russia Probes: Politico
- Strict privacy policy led to removal of some information
- Now Twitter believed to be one of Russia’s most potent weapons
Google, Facebook and Twitter Under Political Pressure
Twitter Inc. deleted tweets and other user data that could be valuable to investigators probing Russia’s suspected manipulation of the social media site during the 2016 U.S. election, Politico reported, citing unidentified current and former government cybersecurity officials.
Unidentified operatives created armies of automated bots, fake users, hashtags and bogus ad campaigns and launched recurring waves of pro-Trump and anti-Clinton story lines via Twitter that were either false or greatly exaggerated, Politico reported. U.S. investigators were hoping to identify who was behind the operations, how they cooperated with each other and their suspected ties to the Kremlin, by sifting through reams of data accumulated in recent years by Twitter, Politico said.