Twitter removed almost 90,000 accounts linked to the Saudi Arabian government that were found to be part of a propaganda campaign, the company announced on Friday. According to Bloomberg, the accounts were “amplifying messages favorable to Saudi authorities” by engaging in tweets about politics—specifically about Iranian sanctions and the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Researchers from the Stanford Internet Observatory traced the origin of the tweets to Smaat, a Saudi-based social media company that is controlled by the Saudi royal family. The accounts of the company and the company's senior executives have also been suspended, Twitter said. This comes after two ex-Twitter employees and a Saudi national were charged by the U.S. for helping the Saudi government spy on dissidents on the social media platform. One of the individuals charged was an executive with Smaat who worked on behalf of the royal family.
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