Twitter outlines new steps in midterm election integrity fight

Twitter outlined its efforts to help preserve election integrity during the upcoming 2018 midterms on Monday, including its removal of a new set of accounts and a ban on the distribution of hacked materials.

{mosads}“As platform manipulation tactics continue to evolve, we are updating and expanding our rules to better reflect how we identify fake accounts, and what types of inauthentic activity violate our guidelines,” Twitter wrote.

The company said that it removed around 50 accounts misrepresenting themselves as members different state Republican parties in August. The company already removed hundreds of accounts in August as a part of its platform security efforts.

The company said that it also take steps to keep hacked files from being distributed on its platform. Following the Democratic National Committee in 2016, for example, Wikileaks tweeted links to the trove of data that was hacked. Such information would likely be barred from being posted on Twitter in the future.

“We are also expanding the criteria for when we will take action on accounts which claim responsibility for a hack, which includes threats and public incentives to hack specific people and accounts,” Twitter said, clarifying that “Commentary about a hack or hacked materials, such as news articles discussing a hack, are generally not considered a violation of this policy.”

Twitter also clarified its fake account policy saying that it will bar accounts using stock or stolen photos and misleading information.

The company sent CEO Jack Dorsey to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on the matter in September, alongside Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.

The two said that they are actively working to keep their platforms from being manipulated like they had been by Russian trolls around the time of the 2016 election.