Twitter announced this weekend that it took down about 4,525 accounts linked to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt — and 4,248 of these were operating uniquely from the UAE. Twitter accused all of the accounts of promoting “political spam” — effectively a euphemism for propaganda.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE, in particular, have long been accused of weaponizing social media platforms to promote their increasingly aggressive foreign policy agenda. In 2017, hundreds of thousands of bots were used to launch attacks on Qatar as part of a blockade. Even verified Twitter accounts have been hacked to spread pro-Saudi propaganda.
Source: Saudi, UAE Twitter takedowns won’t curb rampant disinformation on Arab Twitter – The Washington Post