Twitter permanently DELETED bogus ads and tweets crucial to probe into Russian meddling in US election
Experts have blasted the social media giant for allowing Russia to carry out a “sophisticated” hijacking campaign during the US election in 2016
TWITTER permanently deleted tweets and bogus ads vital to probes into how Russian hackers meddled in the US election, cybersecurity officials said.
Experts blasted the social media giant for allowing Russia to carry out a “sophisticated” hijacking campaign using armies of bots and malware messages.
Investigators believe Twitter was one of Russia’s most potent weapons in its efforts to propel Donald Trump to victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Officials said the platform is effective for hackers because of Twitter’s privacy policy that states when any user revises or deletes their tweets, promotions or accounts, the company must follow suit.
Thomas Rid, a Strategic Studies professor at Johns Hopkins University, told that this means content spread by Russian bots could be permanently removed.
“Should bot operators and people who spread hate and abuse have the right to remove content from the public domain? Twitter says yes, and I think it’s a scandal,” Mr Rid said.
“It removes forensic evidence from the public domain, and makes the work of investigators more difficult and maybe impossible.”
A spokesman for Twitter confirmed: “Once an account has been deactivated, there is a very brief period in which we may be able to access account information, including Tweets.”
“Content deleted by account holders (e.g., Tweets) is generally not available,” the Twitter policy also says.
Cybersecurity analysts told Politico that fake users and robots spread a wave of false information surrounding the US election.
They can then completely cover their tracks by deleting the fake accounts.
Clint Watts, a former FBI agent, said: “When the Russians hit on a big story or get a big falsehood going, they collapse their accounts.
“They are very good at plausible deniability and covering their tracks.”
A former senior Senate staff official said Twitter’s “permanent deletion” could have a significant impact on the outcome of the investigation.
“The limitations created by the hostile actors deleting their actions is potentially high impact,” the ex-official said.
“They may get lucky and Twitter may have some record of it, but in terms of their stated policy, if accounts or tweets were deleted, they’re gone.”
SunOnline has approached Twitter for a comment.
In a statement last month, Twitter said: “It’s important to note our work to fight both malicious bots and misinformation goes beyond any one specific election, event, or time period.
“We’ve spent years working to identify and remove spammy or malicious accounts and applications on Twitter.”
An investigation by CNN has also found that Russian cyber experts created a Pokemon Go game as part of their attempts to meddle with the US election.
Under the banner of Don’t Shoot Us, a collective that seemed to share the aims of Black Lives Matter but which is now believed to be run by Russians, the game was created to inspire online participants.
Users could visit sites where police brutality had been recorded, and were encouraged to give their Pokemon characters names of real-life victims, such as Eric Garner, who died on Staten Island.
Last month, US spy chiefs told 21 states they were targeted by Putin's hackers before the 2016 US Presidential election.
Wisconsin, Ohio and several other states said on Friday they were among the 21 states that the federal government notified were targeted by Russian government hackers.
The states confirmed that although they were targeted, no votes were changed
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed it had notified the 21 states but refused to identify them.
Alabama, Colorado, Minnesota, Connecticut and Washington State also confirmed they were targeted by Russian hackers but said they were not successful.
"There remains no evidence that the Russians altered one vote or changed one registration,"; said Judd Choate, president of the U.S. National Association of State Election Directors.
Russia has denied election meddling, and President Trump has denied any collusion with Russia.
Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Michael Haas said Homeland Security told the states that "Russian government cyber actors" targeted state voter registration systems.
Department of Homeland Security officials have said that in most of the 21 states only preliminary activity was observed from hackers and that only a small number of networks were compromised.
Only Illinois reported that hackers had succeeded in breaching its voter systems.
The news comes as a special counsel launches its investigation into whether there was any coordination during the 2016 presidential campaign between Russia and Donald Trump and his associates.
Trump has called the Russia story a hoax and says Russian President Vladimir Putin "vehemently denied" the conclusions of American intelligence agencies.
In January a US intelligence report concluded Vladimir Putin “ordered” a campaign of hacking to influence the US presidential election and boost Donald Trump’s chances.
Intelligence officials stated Russia directed the "hacking and media manipulation" to undermine Hillary Clinton after Putin developed a "preference" for Trump.
"We assess Russian President Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election," said the report from the Director of National Intelligence.
"Russia's goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency."
It has even been claimed that Russia hired 1,000 trolls to create fake news sites spreading lies about Hillary Clinton during the US presidential election.
Trump has repeatedly dismissed the US intelligence community's conclusions that Russia was responsible for the hacking - or that it aimed to help his campaign.
Trump was briefed on the report and while he said he had "a constructive meeting," he declined to agree with their conclusions.
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